Free Drug Samples Are Costing Patients

Patients of dermatologists who hand out free samples wind up paying significantly higher costs for thier prescriptions, according to  a recent study.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Dermatology, details how researchers from the University of Stanford investigated average costs for dermatologist patients who have a doctor who gives out free samples verses those who do not.

According to the study, the average retail cost of prescriptions for patients from a single visit to a doctor's office that gives out free samples totaled to about $465. This well over double the prescription costs for the patients of doctors and clinics that forbid free sampling -- who on-average pay an estimated $200 for prescription drugs.

To determine this, researchers analyzed data on prescriptions for adult acne treatments written by dermatologists across the United States in 2010. They found that brand name drugs and "branded generics" -- which cost about the same as recognized brands -- accounted for nearly 80 percent of all written prescriptions that year.

Interestingly, among doctors who are forbidden from handing out free samples and have no standing contracts with drug companies, brand name drugs and branded generics only accounted for a mere 17 percent of their total written prescriptions that year.

The researchers also sound that between 2001 and 2010, the percentage of prescriptions written with a free drug sample decreased from seven percent to four percent among most specialists. However, among dermatologists, free samples actually became more prevalent, rising from 12 to 18 percent, and indicating a similar rise in cost for patients.

Study co-author Michael Hurley, who worked under senior author Dr. Alfred Lane, explained that dermatologists may actually think they are doing their patients a favor by accepting contracts with brand-name companies that allow then to provide free samples to patients.

"Many physicians believe that free samples have both benefits and drawbacks," Hurley explained in a Stanford press release . "Primarily, they feel that the samples give them more freedom and flexibility to help people who are uninsured, or with less financial means. But the national data don't really support that. Those people are not the ones who are typically getting these samples."

The study was published in JAMA Dermatology on April 16.

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