Doctors advised to use drug samples with caution

Samples of prescription drugs are often given out as freebies by doctors to their patients.  These “freebies” are often used incorrectly by patients who are confused by poor labelling.

It has been noted that the "starter packs" of new medications handed out by pharmaceutical marketers can be responsible for delays in vital treatment.

There have been a series of complaints of "medicine misadventure" over a two-year period.

A recent medical report indicates that the most commonly reported problems were drug samples being supplied to patients with inadequate information regarding dosage, administration, storage and possible adverse effects.  In addition, some patients were even given excessive quantities of a particular drug by the physician.

In one of 13 cases outlined in the recent medical report, a 50-year-old woman took home an unlabelled sample of the anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel, prescribed for schizophrenia, believing it was pain relief to be taken "as required".

Another case was that of a 32-year-old woman who was given samples of the same drug, another antidepressant Fluoxetine and the anti-anxiety drug Rivotril and took all three at once.  Shockingly, the patient took the drugs for three weeks concurrently before questioning the best way to take them and what the potential adverse effects were.

In a different case, a 28-year-old male patient was given four starter packs of the anti-depressant Luvox to "take the edge off" but he didn't take the drugs because he had inadequate product information.

At least two complaints related to the controversial anti-arthritis drug Vioxx, which was withdrawn worldwide in 2004, after it was linked to increased risk of heart problems, were also cited.

Drug samples are big business, with US statistics showing manufacturers spent $10.5 billion on the marketing strategy in 2001 and that figure is rising each year thereafter.

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