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Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore Jordanian pharmacists’ perceptions towards generic medicines as well as to evaluate their opinions on generic substitution in order to introduce a future generic substitution policy in Jordan. A cross-sectional descriptive study involving community pharmacists in Amman-Jordan was undertaken, using a self-completed anonymous questionnaire. The sampling unit was community pharmacy, and the sampling frame was list of community pharmacies in Amman (N = 1252). Five hundred pharmacies were randomly selected to participate in this survey, and 294 pharmacists’ responses were collected giving a response rate of 58.8%. The majority of Jordanian pharmacists had a positive view on generic medicines in general with 87.7% of the respondents believing that a generic medicine is bio-equivalents to the originator. Two hundred and sixty-five pharmacists (90.1%) were in favour of implementing a compulsory generic prescribing policy. More than 80% of the pharmacists supported generic substitution in most cases. Generic substitution policy should be implemented; in addition, a formulary of interchangeable medicines must be developed to guide pharmacists’ decision making when performing generic substitution. Jordanian pharmacists were also in favour of introducing a compulsory generic prescribing legislation; however, such policy may have a negative impact on the local industry, as most of the produced medicines are branded generics.

Keywords

Generic medicines generic substitution community pharmacist perception policy

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Community pharmacists’ perceptions towards generic medicines and their opinions on future generic substitution policy implementation: A descriptive study from Jordan

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