Table 1.
Consequences of Generic Prescribing
| Stakeholders | Possible Pros | Possible Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Patients | ● Reduced cost of medications. ● Improved adherence to medications due to convenience in finding prescribed medicines. ● Improved accessibility and availability of medicines regardless of their socio-economic factors. ● No economic burden for therapeutically equivalent medicines. |
● Possibility of therapeutic failure in patients taking narrow therapeutic index medicine due to fluctuation in plasma drug concentration. ● Possibility of receiving the substandard products from pharmacies. ● A paradoxical decrease in adherence with generics because of the change in pill colour, packaging and labeling. |
| Pharmacists | ● An unethical prescription may be revoked. The professional paradigm shift from prescribers to pharmacists ● Decreased inventory holding costs. ● Less chances of medication/dispensing errors particularly for the sound-alike and look-alike medicines. ● Efficient medication counselling possible. |
● Paradigm shift of marketing influence from prescribers to the pharmacist, leading to physicians’ dissatisfaction. ● Greater obligation in ensuring quality medicines to the patients and pharmacists. |
| Prescribers | ● No need to memorize a variety of the brands available in the market by the prescribers. ● More transparent relationship will build between pharmaceutical manufacturers and prescribers. ● Encouraged practice of ethical prescribing. ● Less prescribing errors. ● Easy availability of the prescribed medications. |
● Writing multicomponent and fixed combination products may be tedious for the prescribers. ● Commission-based prescriptions, if any, get hampered. |
| Pharmaceutical manufacturers | ● Allow smaller manufacturers to enter the market in a more accessible, cheaper and faster way. ● A new horizon for pharmaceutical manufacturers opened. ● Concept of BABE studies can be implemented in Nepal. |
● The current push marketing adopted by most pharmaceutical companies may need reconsideration. ● Competitive market culture developed. ● Working modality of the marketing team of the pharmaceutical companies in Nepal may need to be changed. |