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Some new sampling methods bring pharmacists into the picture
Summary
Drug sampling plays a key role in the pharmaceutical marketing industry's attempts to reach the "prescribing audience" of health professionals. The traditional mechanism of pharmaceutical sales representatives giving drug samples to the physician as part of a "detailing" appointment is being supplemented by new mechanisms.
In light of growing public and private concerns regarding the administration, management, and application of drug samples, the efforts to develop alternative approaches and the willingness of health professionals and pharmaceutical companies to consider these approaches are increasing. Success will depend on the acceptance and adoption of the approach by pharmaceutical manufacturers, physicians, pharmacists, policy-makers, insurers (public and private), regulators, as well as consumers. Given the number of stakeholders involved, it is not surprising that many of the attempts to introduce alternative methods have failed to achieve the critical level of participation necessary to advance these initiatives into an economically sustainable, broadly accepted model.
Prescription pharmaceutical sampling, generally referred to as drug sampling, is a key marketing strategy used by pharmaceutical companies to generate trial of their products by physicians and patients. Within the prescription drug industry, a drug sample is defined as "...a package containing a limited quantity of a pharmaceutical product sufficient to evaluate clinical response, distributed to authorized health care practitioners free of charge, for patient treatment."1
Although the origin of the concept of sampling to stimulate trial is unclear, the practice can be traced back to the 1890s and the promotional efforts of WH Schieffelin & Co. (New York) on behalf of Bayer. In attempts to persuade physicians to write prescriptions for Phenacetin (acetophenetidine), Schieffelin's detail men (pharmaceutical sales reps) would visit physicians' offices with a previously mailed circular plus samples of the product for the physicians' own use, as well as for their patients.2 By the early 1900s, the practice was broadly accepted as a viable promotional strategy in the consumer packaged goods (including pharmaceuticals) industry.'
There are essentially two basic channels through which patients may receive samples of prescription drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturers. In one, the physician receives samples from a pharmaceutical manufacturer directly or via a third party and issues the drug directly to the patient. The second method involves...