Study Says Drug Samples May Endanger Children excerpts By GARDINER
HARRIS<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/gardiner_harris/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
A new study suggests that free drug samples, an effective marketing tool for the drug industry, do little to help the poor and may put children's health at risk.
The study, being published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, analyzed an in-depth survey conducted in 2004 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/centers_for_disease_control_and_prevention/index.html?inline=nyt-org>that asked people how they got health care. As part of the survey, respondents were asked if they received free drug samples. It was found that children in the lowest income group were no more likely to receive the samples than were those in the highest income group, in part because the poor are less likely to see doctors.
Once in a doctor's office, children who lack health insurance<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>are more likely to receive free drug samples than their well-insured counterparts, the study reported.
But of greater concern, the authors wrote, are the kinds of drug samples that physicians provide. In 2004, the year of the C.D.C. survey, more than 500,000 children received samples of four medicines that were later the subject of serious safety warnings required by the Food and Drug Administration<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/food_and_drug_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
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The drug's label often have a strong warning and a reminder that it was not approved for use in children under 2.
Meghana Bahar
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