An independent group of health and drug researchers at the University of British Columbia is urging the province's doctors to prescribe older, cheaper drugs to patients in an effort to curb rising costs.

Dr. Jim Wright, a clinical pharmacologist with the Therapeutics Initiative, says that newer drugs typically cost more than twice the amount of older drugs without offering any substantial benefit to the patient.

Wright says many doctors are unaware that articles about new drugs in medical journals are often written by pharmaceutical companies.

"I think doctors are influenced by marketing and I think the marketing does work," Wright said.

Per-person spending more than doubled

Researchers with the Therapeutics Initiative say that spending on prescription drugs has increased dramatically over the years. Annual spending per person on prescription drugs in B.C. jumped to $316 in 2003 from $141 in 1996.

Dr. Alan Cassels, a drug policy researcher at the University of Victoria, has found that about 25 per cent of doctors underestimate the cost of prescription drugs.

"You know, they were for the most part honest and said, 'You know, we don't know the prices of the drugs for the most part that we're prescribing and we would very much welcome better information about the comparative costs of these treatments."

The Therapeutics Initiative encouraged doctors to prescribe drugs with cost in mind to curb waste and free up money for other areas of the health-care system.