Drug Diffusion through Peer Networks: The Influence of Industry Payments

Leila Agha and Dan Zeltzer

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-33

Abstract: Pharmaceutical companies market to physicians through individual detailing accompanied by monetary or in-kind transfers. Large compensation payments to a small number of physicians account for most of this promotional spending. Studying US promotional payments and prescriptions for anticoagulant drugs, we investigate how peer influence broadens the payments' reach. Following a compensation payment, prescriptions for the marketed drug increase from both the paid physician and the paid physician's peers. Payments increase prescriptions to both recommended and contraindicated patients. Over three years, marketed anticoagulant prescriptions rose 23 percent due to payments, with peer spillovers contributing a quarter of the increase.

JEL-codes: I11 L65 M31 M37 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200044 (application/pdf)
https://doi.org/10.3886/E140841V1 (text/html)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200044.appx (application/pdf)
https://www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/pol.20200044.ds (application/zip)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Drug Diffusion Through Peer Networks: The Influence of Industry Payments (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:1-33

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200044

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy is currently edited by Matthew Shapiro

More articles in American Economic Journal: Economic Policy from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().