Profiles of Phase IV Investigators and Subsequent Prescribing of the Study Drug

Abstract

This study examines the demographic and prescribing characteristics of Phase IV clinical investigators who subsequently increase their prescribing level of the study drug. The study also examines whether the amount of the grant payment the investigator receives from the pharmaceutical company to participate in a Phase IV study influences that investigator's subsequent prescribing levels of the study drug. The study found that certain characteristics of the physicians and their practices are associated with increased prescribing levels of the study drug, these characteristics being: younger physicians; physicians who already write a higher percentage of their drugs from the company sponsoring the clinical trial; physicians who are participating in clinical trials of larger pharmaceutical companies; and doctors who write a higher volume of drugs in the drug class of the study drug but who actually write relatively fewer pre-study prescriptions of the study drug itself. However, the relative grant amount the investigator receives to conduct the study is not related to subsequent prescribing volumes.