These are but a few examples of the drugs that don’t appear to have much benefit, except for those who sell them. While these products offer little, if any, benefit to patients beyond that of the existing products, insurers will pay significantly more for them despite cheaper alternatives, and ultimately, we physicians may have our pay (and our patients’ care) squeezed so that this practice can go on for as long as the economy will support it. As physicians, however, we should draw a line in the sand, and refuse to prescribe luxury drugs when a suitable generic alternative is available. It’s time to point out that the emperor has no clothes. Perhaps it’s because he took extended-release Ambien. the rheumatologist
Dr. Abeles is assistant clinical professor in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington.
