Entrepreneurship in Off-Label Drug Prescription: Just What the Doctor Ordered!
21 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2015
Date Written: July 15, 2015
Abstract
I examine off-label drug prescription from an entrepreneurial framework by examining the development processes of aspirin, Viagra, and minoxidil. This paper finds physicians and pharmaceutical companies working as entrepreneurial actors were able to better serve patients by finding effective alternative uses of these drugs. In each case, research and treatment conclusions were recognized by the medical community quicker than the Food and Drug Administration. These examples challenge the view that off-label prescription requires government oversight due to a lack of sufficient testing and provide counter evidence to the view that unregulated off-label prescription is prone to reckless prescribing habits by physicians and requires additional regulation.
Keywords: Health economics, off-label drug prescription, entrepreneurship, market process
JEL Classification: I18, I12, K23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation