Nothing for something: Marketing cancer drugs to physicians increases prescribing without improving mortality

Abstract

Physicians commonly receive marketing-related transfers from drug firms. We examine the impact of these relationships on the prescribing of physician-administered cancer drugs in Medicare. We find that prescribing of the associated drug increases 4% in the twelve months after a payment is received, with the increase beginning sharply in the month of payment and fading out within a year. A marketing payment also leads physicians to begin treating cancer patients with lower predicted mortality. While payments result in greater expenditure on cancer drugs, there are no associated improvements in patient mortality.