FACTORS AFFECTING PHYSICIAN’S ADHERENCE TO GENERIC DRUG PRESCRIBING PRACTICE IN PRIVATE HEALTH FACILITIES, MEKELLE CITY, NORTHEASTERN ETHIOPIA
Journal Title: Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics - Year 2017, Vol 7, Issue 2
Abstract
Introduction: Generic medicines are produced by multiple manufacturers hence, are usually cheaper than innovator brands and therefore save costs on medicines. Many physicians oppose brand substitution, believing generic medicines to be inferior to their originator counterparts. Physicians’ belief about generic medicines and factors affecting generic prescribing in Ethiopia are poorly investigated. Objective: To assess the physicians’ belief about generic medicines and to identify factors affecting generic medicines prescribing in private health facilities, Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted enrolling all physicians working in private health facilities. The data were collected from January 2016 to March 2016. Data were collected using self-administered structured questionnaires measuring generic medicines belief of physicians using a Likert scale of 1–5. Data were then entered into SPSS version 20 for analysis. Results: Of the fifty-six physicians approached in this study, 50 (89.2% response rate) questionnaires were included in the analysis. Nearly three-fourth (72%) of the physicians claimed that they always prescribe generic medicines. More than half (55.3) of the respondents beliefs generic medicines have different active ingredients than a brand innovator. Almost equal percentage (52% and 54%) of the Physicians disagreed with brand medicines were safer than generic medicines and prescribing generic due to the complicated health problem of the patient respectively. Around two third (67.5%) of physicians reported that quality profile of medicine was a major reason for prescribing generic medicines. Moreover, availability of medicines in pharmacies and low cost of medicines were the main reasons for prescribing generic medicines with 58.1% and 52.4% respectively. Conclusion: The majority of physicians do not have a positive perception of generic medicines and a significant portion of the physician’s belief brand medicines safer and effective than generic counterparts. The availability of medicines in pharmacies, low cost of medicines and purchasing power of the patients are major factors affecting generic medicines prescribing.
Authors and Affiliations
Birhanu Demeke Workneh
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP294664
- DOI 10.22270/jddt.v7i2.1394
- Views 96
- Downloads 0
PREFORMULATION SCREENING OF REPAGLINIDE FOR TRANSDERMAL ANTI-DIABETIC THERAPY
The aim of the present work is to study the preformulation parameters for Transdermal drug delivery system. The objective of Preformulation study is to generic information useful to the formulater in developing stable an...
A comprehensive review on pharmaceutical mini tablets
Mini-tablets represent a new trend in solid dosage form design, with the main goal of overcoming some therapeutic obstacles. Mini tablets are multiple unit dosage forms and are advantageous than pellets or any other oral...
Elastic liposomes mediated transdermal delivery of verapamil hydrochloride
The aim of present investigation was to formulate and characterize elastic liposomes as a delivery system for transdermal delivery of Verapamil hydrochloride, a drug having low oral bioavailability (approx 20%), short bi...
VALIDATED COLORIMETRIC METHODS FOR THE ESTIMATION OF TENELIGLIPTIN IN TABLETS
Two simple sensitive and precise methods A and B were developed for the estimation of teneligliptin in bulk drug as well as in pharmaceutical dosage form. Method A is based on the formation of a red colored chromogen by...
NANOPARTICLES CARRYING NATURAL PRODUCT FOR DRUG DELIVERY
Camptothecin, Doxorubicin, Paclitaxel, Vincristine, and Etoposide are the naturally occurring anti-cancer drugs that are analyzed in this analysis. It is found that these compounds can be developed as nanomedicine. It ha...