Opioid marketing linked to uptick in overdoses

Efforts to market opioids to physicians could have helped fuel an uptick in fatal overdoses from the prescription painkiller, according to new research.

The study found that drug makers spent $39.7 million on marketing materials aimed at more than 67,507 physicians across 2,208 U.S. counties between 2013 and 2015. Looking at marketing efforts by county, the researchers found an association between a rise in opioid marketing in a county and higher rates of prescriptions painkiller deaths one year later.

In a January 18, 2019 Newsweek article, Michael Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who was not involved with the study, said the findings are very concerning. He said that while the study didn’t establish causation, patients who are concerned by the influence marketers may have on their physician should ask their doctor for peer-reviewed literature or independent expert guidelines to justify new medications.

“Like everything in healthcare, discussing pros and cons and why could reduce the chance that someone writes a prescription because there’s a mouse pad with the drug name on it in their office,” Barnett said.

Read the Newsweek article: Overdoses rise after pharma companies directly advertise opioids to doctors