Patients object to generic drugs, say GPs

Most GPs and pharmacists say they have received complaints from patients about generic medicines.

Complaints were reported by 94% of GPs and 89% of pharmacists in a University of Limerick study, published yesterday.

Researchers in the UL’s Graduate Entry Medical School found while most pharmacists were positive about generics, GPs were more reticent and comparatively fewer accepting of them.

One in 10 GPs (12%) and 2% of pharmacists believe generic medicines do not work as well as branded ones.

More than twice as many GPs (15%) as pharmacists (7%) would prefer to take branded medicines themselves instead of generics.

Last year, legislation was introduced allowing generic substitution and reference pricing. With spending on pharmaceuticals in Ireland the highest in the EU per capital in 2010, the Government is anxious to increase the use of generic drugs in a bid to made significant savings.

Study author and PhD candidate, Suzanne Dunne, said that if GPs had negative opinions regarding generic medicines, then their patients were likely to have a similar lack of confidence.

“Improving GPs’ confidence in generic medicines is very likely to have a positive knock-on effect in improving acceptance of these medicines by patients,” she said.

“As a result, in certain cases, the GP may decide that it is better for individual patients to receive tried and tested medicines rather than newer, generic variants. However, in all cases, the patient’s wellbeing is at the centre of GP prescribing practices and their dispensing at pharmacies,” said author and chair of General Practice at UL Prof Walter Cullen.