Healthy Skepticism Library item: 9109

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

Gebhardt DO.
The generic-patent medicine conflict flares up again in The Netherlands.
J Med Ethics 2006 Sep; 32:(9):555
http://jme.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/32/9/555

Abstract:

“Recently I reported in this journal1 how it became necessary for a judge to settle a dispute between the pharmaceutical industry and certain Dutch pharmacists. It considered the question of whether a pharmacist is permitted, without prior consultation, to give a patient a (cheaper) generic drug instead of the patent drug mentioned on the prescription.

Another dispute has now arisen after the pharmaceutical industry discovered that healthcare insurers were paying general practitioners (GPs) a bonus if they prescribed generic drugs, such as simvastatin (which reduces cholesterol content) or omeprazol (which reduces the production of gastric acid), instead of the more expensive patent forms (Zocor and Losec, respectively). According to the national newspaper, Trouw,2,3 Menzis, one of the largest healthcare insurers, offered each of 2300 GPs up to 8000 annually if they switched their patients from patent drugs to the equivalent generic forms. Since the offer was . . . “

Keywords:
Publication Types: Letter MeSH Terms: Drug Industry Drugs, Generic/economics Drugs, Generic/therapeutic use* Family Practice/economics Family Practice/ethics Humans Insurance Carriers/economics Insurance Carriers/ethics Insurance, Health/ethics Motivation Netherlands Substances: Drugs, Generic