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Is pharmaceutical detailing informative? Evidence from contraindicated drug prescriptions

Author

Listed:
  • Guofang Huang

    (Purdue University)

  • Matthew Shum

    (Caltech)

  • Wei Tan

    (Mingde Economic Research Inc.)

Abstract

Crestor, an important but controversial cholesterol-lowering drug, is contraindicated for use by senior and Asian patients. In this paper, we exploit this fact along with unique physician-level prescription and detailing data for statin drugs to examine the hypothesis that detailing is informative. Our tests are based on a simple model in which detailing impacts physicians’ expected match utility of Crestor for different types of patients. We find strong evidence for the informative-detailing hypothesis: relative to the other patients, detailing significantly reduces physicians’ likelihood of prescribing Crestor to contraindicated patients. Our results are robust to detailing being correlated with physician-specific unobserved factors and/or differential trends in individual physicians’ attitudes toward Crestor.

Suggested Citation

  • Guofang Huang & Matthew Shum & Wei Tan, 2019. "Is pharmaceutical detailing informative? Evidence from contraindicated drug prescriptions," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 135-160, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:qmktec:v:17:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s11129-018-9206-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11129-018-9206-4
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kelli Marquardt & Conor Ryan, 2023. "The Role of Information in Pharmaceutical Advertising: Theory and Evidence," Working Paper Series WP 2023-40, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pharmaceutical detailing; Informative advertising; Sales force; Contraindications; Bayesian learning models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M3 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising

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