Implications of Drug Product Appearance on Generic Drug Acceptance

Abstract

One claim which has been consistently made in the look-alike drug debate is that product copying increases patient acceptance of generic drugs. This experimental study involved 240 patients, 40 from each of 6 different community pharmacies, who were obtaining a refill of a brand name drug product. Equal numbers of patients in each pharmacy were randomly assigned to a treatment group and a control group. The 120 patients in the treatment group were shown mock samples of nonlook-alike drugs which differed in appearance only as to color. All of the patients received a brief explanation about generic substitution as required under Florida law, and were asked if they would switch to the less expensive generic equivalent. Our results showed no significant differences between the two groups in patient acceptance of generic substitutes. Follow-up interviews with these patients disclosed that the product's color appearance was not a major concern to them. However, one-third of the respondents indicated that color would matter if the pharmacist did not communicate with them regarding the generic: substitution.