Physicians' Views on Generic Medicines: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Most countries are facing escalating health-care expenditures. A recent trend to control these staggering increases in costs is to encourage the use of generic medicines. Physicians are at the centerpiece of the medication use process as they are the dominant prescribers in all clinical settings. It is therefore prudent to examine what they perceive about generic medicines. The current study attempts to identify and review the literature on physicians' perceptions and practices on the use of generic medicines. Using subject-related keywords, an extensive literature search was undertaken through indexing services available in the authors' institution's library. Full text papers written in English language between 1980 and 2008 were retrieved and reviewed. Fourteen studies, majority (n = 5) from the United States were reviewed and included. Most of the studies used quantitative methodology. Generally, physicians were neutral to slightly supportive on the use of generic medications. Most of the studies reviewed highlighted the factors that can influence physicians' views as policy-related issues, patient-related variables, drug characteristics and physician-related variables. Although physicians accept generic substitution under policy and economic pressures, they still have concerns about the overall quality and reliability of generic drugs as well as generic interchange of certain drug categories.