Evaluating Detailing Payments as a Potential Driver of Benzodiazepine Prescribing Behavior

Benzodiazepines are a psychoactive drug class used to treat anxiety, insomnia, and more. While they have a relatively uninteresting prescription pattern when viewed in isolation, their co-prescription rates with opioids are rising. This pattern is associated with increased risk of abuse and mortality in patients and is against public health guidance. To date, detailing payments made from pharmaceutical manufacturers to physicians have not been investigated as a potential driver of benzodiazepine prescription. This study uses the Open Payments database to offer a descriptive analysis of detailing payments made to psychiatrists between 2014 and 2019, a new contribution to pharmaceutical marketing literature. This study argues that detailing payments are unlikely to be drivers of trends in benzodiazepine prescription and benzodiazepine-opioid co-prescription, though further investigation into within-physician effects and different specialties should be pursued. Policymakers, public health officials, and researchers in the field may be interested in the findings.