Direct-to-Consumer and Physician Promotion of Tegaserod Correlated With Physician Visits, Diagnoses, and Prescriptions

The initial DTCA of tegaserod was associated with a significant, immediate increase in physician visits and IBS diagnoses. This trend reversed and, in multivariate models, neither DTCA nor physician promotion correlated with visits or diagnoses. Physician promotion (although not DTCA) correlated with tegaserod prescription volume.