Biochemistry & Pharmacology: Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0501
ISSN: 2167-0501
Sarkar Chayna
North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, India
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Biochem Pharmacol (Los Angel)
Prescription drug spending is increasing and out-of-pocket expenses come to 80% of total health-care expenditures. Generic drugs are typically less expensive than brand-name drugs with same therapeutic effect; however, many doctors hold negative views of generics and resist prescribing. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice of doctors regarding generic medicines and to explore the factors hindering and favoring generic drug prescribing if any. It is a crosssectional questionnaire-based study in a tertiary-care teaching hospital. All doctors working in the hospital during the study period participated and filled up the structured and pre-validated questionnaires which were then analyzed. Close to three quarters of the participants had good attitude about the efficacy and safety of generic drugs and majority of doctors actively prescribe it but a high number of doctors (72%) were of the view that generics were manufactured with poorer quality but cheaper than brand name drugs. Majority of the respondents believed that their prescribing decision is influenced by a lot of factors. These results suggest that there are significant numbers of concerns about the quality of generics amongst doctors and these negative perceptions are likely to be barriers to a wider acceptance of generics. In order to have a better understanding of generics, the doctor must be well-informed about the generic during their academic career resulting in savings of healthcare budgets.