Generic Drugs (Physician Perspective) - Thematic Research

Generic drugs are touted as an effective cost-containment measure for healthcare systems that often have outdated or ineffective financing mechanisms. By bypassing the extensive clinical studies required for branded medicines, generic drugs can offer the same therapeutic benefits at a lower price. Nevertheless, even though the uptake of generics is increasing, the concerns regarding product quality, physicians' hesitation to prescribe, and patients’ resistance to switching are seen as some major barriers to the more widespread adoption of generics.

Key findings from this report include the following :

US physicians were prescribing more generic drugs compared to their counterparts in the five major European markets (5EU: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and UK) or Japan, while Italian physicians prescribed the least generic drugs.

HCPs believed that the adoption of generics would further increase in the next five years.
Physicians support substituting brand-name drugs with generic medicines.
If cost was not the main factor, 37% of HCPs would prefer to use branded drugs for their patients.
Physicians believe that patients prefer branded drugs over generics.
HCPs believe that patients should be given an option to choose what drugs, branded or generic, they want to be prescribed.

Lack of financial incentives was named as one of the main barriers to the production of generic drugs in North America and Europe.
Generic drugs provide a good opportunity to increase efficiency in pharmaceutical spending.

Key Highlights

Generic drugs provide a good opportunity to increase efficiency in pharmaceutical spending.
Patient and physician education on generics necessary to boost generics uptake.
Generic drug penetration has reached its zenith in most of the advanced pharmaceutical markets.

Scope

Assess healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards generic drugs prescription.
Better understand the barriers to the production and uptake of generic medicines.
Capture physicians’ opinions on generics substitution.
Better understand patients’ preferences.
Assess past and future generics uptake.
Gain a better understanding of cost consideration when prescribing drugs.
Explore the differences across markets.

Reasons to Buy

This report combines information obtained from secondary sources and primary research with physicians from the 7MM, as well as polls with the readers of the Pharmaceutical Technology website.

It examines physician perception about generic medicines and provides insights into generics uptake, substitution patterns, and use across the seven major pharmaceutical markets (7MM: US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and Japan).
The report highlights the key players in generic space, includes generics market size as well as growth forecast.