Free dermatology drug samples come at a cost

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Free dermatology drug samples come at a cost

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Dermatologists tend to prescribe more expensive medications when they also give their patients drug samples, according to a new U.S. study. "If you're a patient who receives a sample, you may perceive that doctor is giving you better care because they gave you a gift," Dr. Alfred Lane told Reuters Health. "But that doctor may have increased your medical costs by giving you that sample." Lane is the study's senior author, from the Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California. Addressing fellow dermatologists, he added, "You have to realize that these samples are making you write more expensive prescriptions." In an editorial accompanying the new study in JAMA Dermatology, Dr. Kenneth Katz and colleagues from Kaiser Permanente Northern California note that the drug industry in 2011 distributed $6.3 billion of samples.

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