A STUDY TO DETERMINE IF GIFTS AND SPONSORSHIPS BY MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVES CAN CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS NEW PRODUCT ACCEPTANCE BY DOCTORS IN URBAN AND RURAL SETTINGS

Abstract

New products are coming out on a regular basis by pharmaceutical companies. Companies give a number of gifts and sponsorships to lure the doctors into prescribing their new products. Wishing to learn if these gifts and sponsorships contribute to doctors prescribing the new products of the companies, the study was conducted.

100 GP’s and 100 Consultants from the urban area and 100 GP’s and 100 Consultants from the rural area were selected for the study. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation was used to find out if any correlation existed between gifts acceptance and new product prescriptions and similarly if any correlation existed between sponsorships acceptance and new product prescriptions. Doctors were made to rank 6 variables in which sponsorships and gifts (non-product based variables) were present and compared with product based variables in which new products were present.

The findings were that a low correlation existed between accepting gifts or sponsorships and prescriptions of new products by doctors