Exploring knowledge and perceptions on generic drugs of final year pharmacy school students in Greece

ABSTRACT

Objectives: The economic crisis in Greece has triggered an extensive public debate about the use of generic drugs (generics). Despite their cost-saving potential, generic market penetration remains very low. This raises questions on awareness of, perception on and preference for generics by health-care professionals and patients. This is a descriptive study on the level of knowledge and attitudes towards generics of final year pharmacy school students in Greece.

Methods: An electronic questionnaire was distributed to 173 senior pharmacy school students in three Universities in Greece. Responses were submitted electronically.

Results: The majority of students knew that generics contain the same active ingredient as the originator products and are cheaper. Students were somehow concerned with safety and efficacy of generics. The majority of students agreed that pharmacists should probably recommend the use of generics, and indicated that prescribing and dispensing practices would largely depend on the profit margin. Despite more than half of the students expressing a positive attitude towards generics, they were inadequately educated on their features.

Conclusion: It is critical to improve knowledge of and preference for generics amongst health-care professionals from early on if to build the trust required to increase generic market penetration and achieve measurable savings in pharmaceutical expenditure.

KEYWORDS:

• Generics
• health care professionals
• perceptions
• pharmacy students
• savings in pharmaceuticals expenditure

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Gkinou Christina and Karalis Vaggelis of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece, for assisting with data collection.

Author contributions

KS conceived, designed and critically revised the manuscript for intellectual content, CG had a major contribution in writing the manuscript and interpreting study results, CK participated in designing the study and was involved in data collection and analysis and drafting the manuscript, SM participating in designing the study, critically revised the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This study was not funded.