Physician and Patient Factors Associated with Differences in use of New Versus Established Therapeutic Agents

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine a secondary source of data and attempt to identify physician and patient related factors which are associated with the prescribing of new prescription drugs. Eight drugs introduced to the general market between January, 1977 and December, 1980 were selected as “new drugs” for study. Study drug utilization was compared to that of established drugs of the same therapeutic categories to determine whether there were significant differences in the relative frequencies of use between the new drugs and the established drugs with respect to physician and patient characteristics. The major conclusions of the study were 1 that treatment variables (the drug(s) examined, patient’s disease and the treatment setting) are important considerations in establishing an association between prescribing behavior and physician and patient characteristics; (2) the use of secondary data sources to study these associations can serve a limited but useful function in an overall, comprehensive post—marketing drug surveillance system.