The Receipt of Industry Payments is Associated With Prescribing Promoted Alpha-blockers and Overactive Bladder Medications

Abstract

Objective: To determine the impact of physicians' financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry on prescribing marketed alpha-blockers and overactive bladder (OAB) medications. We also aim to examine if the number or total value of transactions is influential.

Materials and methods: We linked the Open Payments Program database of industry payments to prescribers with Medicare Part D prescription data. We used binomial logistic regression to identify the association between receipt of industry payment and prescribing of marketed alpha-blockers (silodosin) and OAB medications (fesoterodine, solifenacin, and mirabegron). We also evaluated the impact of increasing total value and number of payments on prescribing of marketed drugs.

Results: The receipt of industry payment was associated with increased odds of prescribing the marketed drug for all included drugs: silodosin (odds ratio [OR] 34.1), fesoterodine (OR 5.9), solifenacin (OR 2.7), and mirabegron (OR 6.8) (all P <.001). We also found that increasing value of total payment and increasing frequency of payments were both independently associated with increased odds of prescribing with a dose-response effect.

Conclusion: There is a consistent association between receipt of industry payment and prescribing marketed alpha-blockers and OAB medications. Both the total value and number of transactions were associated with prescribing.