8 February 2007

Drug company samples or “starter packs” given to patients by doctors should be used with care, warn Marea Patounas and Treasure McGuire, Mater Pharmacy Services, Brisbane, writing in the latest issue of Australian Prescriber.

Starter packs are samples of medicines given to doctors by pharmaceutical companies, often as part of a marketing strategy. Samples are big business but very little has been published on the potential for mistakes when using samples.

“There are many advantages to starter packs. For doctors, it allows them to better assess the effectiveness of new medicines and enables them to provide immediate treatment, which is particularly useful in rural and remote areas. For consumers, it allows you to try a new medicine before having to pay for a prescription,” said Ms Patounas.

However, these advantages must be weighed against significant disadvantages. These include the potential for medicines being issued without a label; doctors issuing expired or poorly stored stock; or expensive medicines being used when effective and less expensive alternatives are available.

Unlabelled drug samples and lack of consumer medicines information (CMI) can increase anxiety, delay treatment (some people hesitate to commence the medicine without proper advice), unintentionally duplicate medicines and result in inappropriate use of the medicine due to confusion.

“It is essential that when given a starter pack you check to see it is properly labelled and request the CMI,” warned Dr McGuire.

Not labelling starter packs may contravene some state and territory legislation.

End

For the complete article visit the Australian Prescriber website www.australianprescriber.com. Australian Prescriber is an independent peer-reviewed journal providing critical commentary on therapeutic topics for health professionals. It is published by National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS), an independent, non-profit organisation funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.