There are many factors that can influence prescribers, pharmacists and patients in their choosing, dispensing or prescribing behaviour. Inaccurate or insufficient knowledge about generics can cause ineffective and unsafe treatment, leading to higher costs, according to Toklu and co-authors.

The study by Toklu and co-authors was carried out in order to determine the knowledge and attitudes of patients, their community pharmacists and prescribers regarding the use of generics.

The study was conducted by a face to face questionnaire with patients, pharmacists and prescribers in the Kadikoy district of Istanbul in April 2010 and included 56 prescribers, 68 pharmacists and 101 patients.

Of the respondents 32% of prescribers and 31% of pharmacists believed that generics did not differ from the originator drug, compared to only 22% of patients. Mistakenly, 55% of prescribers, 61% of pharmacists and 53% of patients believed that some generics differed from the originator drug. Whilst 13% of prescribers, 8% of pharmacists and 23% of patients either did not know or believed that generics definitely differed from the originator drug, see Figure 1.

Figure 1: Comparison of originators and generics

The results of the study demonstrate the lack of knowledge regarding generics in Turkey. The authors therefore called for healthcare providers as well as the public to be better educated about generics.

Conflict of interest
The authors of the research paper [1] declared that there were no conflicts of interest.

Editor’s comment
Readers interested to learn more about generics uptake in Europe are invited to visit www.gabi-journal.net to view the following manuscripts published in GaBI Journal:

The impact of pharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement policies on generics uptake: implementation of policy options on generics in 29 European countries─an overview

If you are interested in contributing a research paper in a similar area to GaBI Journal, please send us your submission here.

Insert link within the article ((do not publish the link ) - http://gabi-journal.net/us-state-legislation-on-biosimilars-substitution.html

Related articles

Australian patients ‘very positive’ about generics

Turkish guidelines for generics

Patients do not talk about generics with doctors

Reference

1.   Toklu HZ, Dülger GA, Hıdıroğlu S, Akici A, Yetim A, Gannemoğlu HM, et al. Knowledge and attitudes of the pharmacists, prescribers and patients towards generic drug use in Istanbul - Turkey. Pharm Pract (Granada). 2012;10(4):199-206.

Permission granted to reproduce for personal and non-commercial use only. All other reproduction, copy or reprinting of all or part of any ‘Content’ found on this website is strictly prohibited without the prior consent of the publisher. Contact the publisher to obtain permission before redistributing.

Copyright – Unless otherwise stated all contents of this website are © 2014 Pro Pharma Communications International. All Rights Reserved.