Industry-Sponsored Meals and Physician Prescribing of Brand-Name Drugs (2016)

Peer-Reviewed Study · DeJong C, Aguilar T, Tseng CW, Lin GA, Boscardin WJ, Dudley RA · June 20, 2016

Cross-sectional study linking Open Payments to Medicare prescribing: industry-sponsored meals — 95% of payments, typically under $20 — were associated with increased prescribing of the promoted brand-name drugs.

Among 279,669 physicians who received 63,524 payments associated with the 4 target drugs, 95% were meals, with a mean value of less than $20.

JAMA Intern Med 2016;176(8):1114-1122 (PubMed record)
Official source

Cross-sectional study linking Open Payments to Medicare prescribing: industry-sponsored meals — 95% of payments, typically under $20 — were associated with increased prescribing of the promoted brand-name drugs. PMID 27322350. Establishes the 'pharma rep bought the lunch' mechanism as a documented, studied practice.