Table 4 describes the type of promotion covered in educational initiatives, in order of frequency within the combined sample. Table 4a provides a breakdown by region. The large majority of coursework included advertisements, followed by sales representatives. In most cases pharmacy and medical faculty respondents reported that they covered similar types of content. The two exceptions were patient requests for medicines and the use of the Internet by patients: pharmacy faculties had more of an emphasis than medical faculties on these topics. This may in part reflect a much greater influence on pharmacy practice of patient-directed advertising for over-the-counter drugs.
Table 4: What types of promotion are covered in education about drug promotion?
| |
Pharmacy
n=91 |
Medical
n=137 |
Combined
n=228 |
Advertisements |
79 (87%) |
111 (81%) |
190 (83%) |
Sales representatives |
66 (72%) |
100 (73%) |
166 (73%) |
Sponsored conferences and seminars |
50 (55%) |
88 (64%) |
138 (61%) |
Promotional ‘research’ |
54 (59%) |
81 (59%) |
135 (59%) |
Gifts |
47 (52%) |
76 (56%) |
123 (54%) |
Industry-funded medical or scientific journals |
47 (52%) |
68 (50%) |
115 (50%) |
Use of ‘opinion leaders’ |
41 (45%) |
69 (50%) |
110 (48%) |
Industry-funded research published in peer-reviewed journals |
46 (51%) |
62 (45%) |
108 (47%) |
Free samples |
48 (53%) |
59 (43%) |
107 (47%) |
Use of the Internet for promotion* |
54 (59%) |
39 (29%) |
93 (41%) |
Patient requests for advertised drugs* |
45 (50%) |
45 (33%) |
90 (40%) |
Other |
10 (11%) |
16 (12%) |
26 (11%) |
* pharmacy and medical school responses differed significantly, p<.05, chi square analysis
Table 4a: Types of promotion covered - by region
| |
Europe
(n=92) |
Americas
(n=56) |
W Pacific
(n=31) |
Africa
(n=20) |
SE Asia
(n=20) |
E. Mediterr
(n=9) |
Advertisements |
75 (82%) |
49 (88%) |
26 (84%) |
17 (85%) |
17 (85%) |
6 (67%) |
Sales representatives |
66 (72%) |
44 (79%) |
23 (74%) |
16 (80%) |
13 (65%) |
4 (44%) |
Free samples |
32 (35%) |
34 (61%) |
16 (52%) |
14 (70%) |
8 (40%) |
3 (33%) |
Use of ‘opinion leaders’ |
45 (49%) |
31 (55%) |
19 (61%) |
8 (40%) |
6 (30%) |
1 (11%) |
Sponsored conferences and seminars |
53 (58%) |
34 (61%) |
23 (74%) |
13 (65%) |
11 (55%) |
4 (44%) |
Promotional ‘research’ |
52 (57%) |
40 (71%) |
19 (61%) |
13 (65%) |
10 (50%) |
1 (11%) |
Gifts |
44 (48%) |
35 (63%) |
21 (68%) |
11 (55%) |
10 (50%) |
2 (22%) |
Patient requests for advertised drugs |
25 (27%) |
35 (63%) |
11 (36%) |
9 (45%) |
6 (30%) |
4 (44%) |
Use of the Internet for promotion |
34 (37%) |
24 (43%) |
12 (39%) |
12 (60%) |
6 (30%) |
5 (56%) |
Industry-funded medical or scientific journals |
50 (54%) |
32 (57%) |
13 (42%) |
8 (40%) |
9 (45%) |
3 (33%) |
Industry-funded research in peer-reviewed journals |
40 (44%) |
32 (57%) |
17 (55%) |
10 (50%) |
6 (30%) |
3 (33%) |
Table 4b: Explanation for ‘other’
Africa |
Medical |
Animation of continuing education (CE) lectures by experts from drug companies or importers |
Americas |
Pharmacy |
Marketing techniques used to promote products
Publications of the public university
Trips/vacations abroad including other entertainment activities |
Medical |
Use of patient advocacy groups
Politics and the pharmaceutical industry
Where to find unbiased (or at least less biased) information on drugs
Ghostwriting, scandals, lobbying
We do NOT have a comprehensive approach to this subject |
Europe |
Pharmacy |
Criteria for rational use
Communication in marketing |
Medical |
Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA)
We are teaching to chose the prescribing drugs according to evidence-based studies in literature and to compare the prices of drugs in different and same groups
Research promotion: use of case studies such as rofecoxib (VIOXX) from arzneimitel telegramm, Washington Post, to learn about manipulation of data
Poll on actual practice/market survey
“ABC of marketing techniques”
Mass media spin, contacts with political organizations,
Lobbying activities
Choice of analysis method, intention-to-treat vs. per protocol, choice of endpoint, generalizability |
South-East Asia |
Pharmacy |
how to evaluate advertisements in patient information |
Medical |
We just make general statements touching all the above subjects |
Western Pacific |
Pharmacy |
Trade shows, direct marketing
Communication in marketing |
Medical |
Encouragement of disease awareness
Expansion of disease definitions & scope to increase indications for drugs (disease ‘creation’)
Company sponsorship of attendance in local and international conferences
DTCA |
E. Mediterranean |
Pharmacy |
Evaluate promotion literature, ethics of promotion, dealing with sales representatives |
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