Generic drugs: Current status and future potential

Abstract

Health care expenditure is increasing day by day across the globe. High cost of branded/innovator drug could be one possible reason for this. Policy makers and governments were looking for alternative strategies to reduce cost without compromising quality of care delivered. Generic drugs were found to be one such alternative. Present review was undertaken to enlighten on generic drugs, policies implemented by various governments, and perceptions of physicians and patients worldwide. Literature search was carried out in May 2016 using keywords “generic drug,” “generic medicine,” “physicians perception,” “patients perception,” “policies.” Full text articles of past decade were retrieved using electronic databases PubMed, Google Scholar. Thirteen studies were included for final analysis. Results were discussed under five themes: history, policies, and ethical considerations, perceptions of patients, and perceptions of physicians. It was noticed that results were mixed in nature. Some countries have well-established policies with good awareness among physicians and patients while some of them were in budding stages. Great variations that exist in health care structure among developed and developing countries reflected on generic drugs also. Long-term randomized trials to establish safety, bioequivalence of generic drugs were recommended. Awareness programs by mass media, health care professionals are need of the hour to increase acceptability of generic drugs.