Abstract
Background: There are many
factors that affect the prescribing of a medication. Among them, promotion of a
medication by the pharmaceutical companies, the physicians’ knowledge base, and
pricing are the most important. The objective of this study was to demonstrate
how these parameters affect the prescribing behavior and determine their
affects on the prescription process. Methods: In order to investigate the effect of price,
advertisement, and the physician gender and age on the sales and prescribing
process of three medicines, namely fluvoxamine, clopidrogrel and latanoprosta
the pooling data method in econometrics (Panel data) was used. Results: We found that
advertisement and medical insurance coverage for the medication had a significant
positive effect on prescription of all three medicines. At the same time, a
negative relationship was seen between increasing price and the frequency of
prescription of a medicine. The gender and age of the physician also affected
the behavior of prescribing. Moreover,
we found out that advertisement has a direct effect on raising the demand and
prescription of all the medicines. Conclusions: Health policy
makers as well as pharmaceutical companies should consider the impact of
advertisement and also the age and gender of the prescriber on the prescribing
frequency of a particular medicine.