Entrepreneurship in Off-Label Drug Prescription: Just What the Doctor Ordered!

21 Pages Posted: 16 Jul 2015

See all articles by Raymond March

Raymond March

North Dakota State University - Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics; North Dakota State University - NDSU Center for the Study of Public Choice and Private Enterprise

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

March, Raymond, Entrepreneurship in Off-Label Drug Prescription: Just What the Doctor Ordered! (July 15, 2015). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2631188 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2631188

Raymond March (Contact Author)

North Dakota State University - Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics ( email )

Fargo, ND 58105
United States

North Dakota State University - NDSU Center for the Study of Public Choice and Private Enterprise

811 2nd Ave N.
Fargo, ND 58102
United States

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