# \[e-drug\] Med-reps and irrational medicine use in sub-Saharan Africa (5)

**URL:** <https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-med-reps-and-irrational-medicine-use-in-sub-saharan-africa-5/22293>\
**Category:** e-drug\
**Created:** [April 26, 2005, 11:33am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-med-reps-and-irrational-medicine-use-in-sub-saharan-africa-5/22293 "2005-04-26T11:33:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kevin\_Outterson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dc4da7/32.png) [@Kevin\_Outterson](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/Kevin_Outterson)\
**Post date:** [April 26, 2005, 11:33am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-med-reps-and-irrational-medicine-use-in-sub-saharan-africa-5/22293/1 "2005-04-26T11:33:07Z")

</div>

E-DRUG: Med-reps and irrational medicine use in sub-Saharan Africa (5)  
-----------------------------------------------------

\<snip\>  
\<Did we ever try to promote rational drug use by adapting similar  
strategies as drug reps? It is obvious that it will require much more  
financial and human investment but ultimately the benefits could be  
greater to any health system in containing overall costs and  
increasing the quality of health care if we sent our own reps to  
prescribers.\>

Yes it has been tried. In the US it is called 'academic detailing' or  
'counter-detailing'. The results have been mixed; the sponsors  
(governments or payors) do not enjoy a core competency in pharma  
marketing; many of the best academic detailers get hired away by drug  
companies at higher salaries once they become effective; and the  
cost-benefit return is difficult to measure, especially when the sponsor  
is a private plan which cannot capture all of the positive  
externalities. A significant literature exists on the technique.

[And it is costly so governments tend not to want to spend that much money. Some countries use pharmaceutical advisers that visit doctors bringing with them a profile of the doctor's or practice's prescribing data. That has been fairly successful in the Uk and Denmark. The Netherlands use pharmacotherapy groups of doctors and pharmacists. KM, moderator]

Kevin Outterson

Associate Professor of Law  
West Virginia University  
304 293 8282  
kevin.outterson@mail.wvu.edu  
LL.M. (Cantab.)  
J.D. (Northwestern)  
SSRN Author Page: ssrn.com/author=340746  
Kevin.Outterson@mail.wvu.edu