A comparison of pharmaceutical manufacturers as a source of drug information to a telephone inquiry: generic vs brand.

A telephone survey was conducted to evaluate and compare drug information received from the pharmaceutical manufacturer in response to a drug interaction question concerning concurrent administration of tetracycline and cimetidine. This study assumes that the pharmaceutical company may often be consulted by the hospital pharmacist seeking information about a particular medication. Forty-five pharmaceutical companies, all marketing tetracycline products, were selected for the study. A conversation protocol was utilized. It was designed to assure consistency and evaluate information received for accuracy, response time, clinical judgement offered, and referrals. Forty pharmaceutical manufacturers responded: 18 brand manufacturers and 22 generic companies. Eleven companies provided information on the interaction identified. Five manufacturers stated that there were no contraindications to concurrent administration of the drugs, one company identified a similar interaction, and five manufacturers successfully provided information identifying the interaction with supportive documentation. Two of the five companies offered clinical judgement as to the clinical significance of the interaction. Both reached different conclusions. The mean time of all phone calls was 4.29 minutes (range 0.39 to 15.41 minutes). The investigator was referred to outside sources by twelve companies. In this study, brand manufacturers performed better than generic companies. Results indicate that few manufacturers are organized to answer drug information requests involving current information sources in a response to a telephone request.