Healthy Skepticism Library item: 8157

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Iheanacho I.
Drug tales and other stories: On the cheap
BMJ 2007 Feb 3; 334:(7587):262
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7587/262-a

Abstract:

Like much else in health care in Britain, attempts to prescribe drugs by generic rather than brand names can be frustrating. This crucial contribution to containing the national drugs bill is sometimes disrupted by the tactics of the drug industry. And it must be rare to find patients who actively welcome being switched from a product with a familiar name and look.

Despite these negative aspects, the prescribing of generic drugs is a success story in the UK and should be cause for celebration. That it isn’t celebrated (at least, not by patients) owes much to the downbeat way the topic is presented and discussed. Part of the problem here is the low key nature of generic drugs and their producers. Few prescribers would struggle to name several major drug companies, yet how many could identify even a single producer of generics, let alone suggest how such outfits operate or . . .