Factors Affecting Physician’s Adherence to Generic Drug Prescribing Practice in Private Health Facilities, Mekelle City, Northeastern Ethiopia

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.

Predictors of substitution to generic drugs and physicians’ perceived exclusivity of substitution: A cross sectional survey among physicians

“…31,32 This study results are in line with the study conducted in Northeastern Ethiopia where proportion of male physicians who prescribe generic drugs was higher while compared to the proportion of female physicians who prescribe generic drugs, but without any statistical significance. 33 While evaluating the effect of the sex on physicians' acceptance of brand substitution to generics by pharmacists, females were about two times more prone to accept the change compared to males. Moreover, females had lower odds to perceive an exclusive right to substitute medicines while compared to males.…”