Manufacturers May Replace Samples With Vouchers.

WASHINGTON -- In the wake of recent abuses of the "free sample" system in physician's offices, some pharmaceutical companies are opting for vouchers to better track drug samples.

Dr. Paul Kalb, an attorney in Washington, D.C., suggested that effective voucher programs could reduce and possibly eliminate fraudulent use of samples and "help minimize the risks associated with samples."

Vouchers are a lot less convenient for the patient because they involve a trip to the pharmacy. However, in the aftermath of the Takeda Abbott Pharmaceuticals (TAP) lawsuit, Dr. Kalb said, vouchers will likely become more popular among drug manufacturers.

Throughout the mid-1990s, Dr. Jacob Zamstein of Bloomfield, Conn., received between $30,000 and $40,000 from billings for free doses of Lupron Depot, which he used to treat cancer patients.

According to court documents, Dr. Zamstein acquired at least 100 1-month doses of Lupron for free from the drug's manufacturer over a 5-year period.

Dr. Zamstein is one of four urologists who have faced criminal charges for allegedly selling free samples of Lupron.

According to the suit, the physicians billed the free samples to patients and Medicare. One physician, Dr. Joseph Spinella of Bristol, Conn., is said to have taken patients off previously prescribed regimens to put them on Lupron, selling 30 free samples.