Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice among pharmacy professionals towards generic medicines in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Suboptimal knowledge and attitude of healthcare professionals about generics reduce utilization of these drugs. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge gap, attitude and practice among pharmacy professionals toward generic medicine in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Method: The study was conducted in Addis Ababa from 10 April to10 July 2018 among 424 pharmacy professionals. Self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were analyzed by using statistical package for social sciences version 24 and multi-variable binary logistic regression was used to identify predictors of the dependent variables. Result: Majority (77.1%) of the participants claimed that they have had knowledge on the concept of generic medicine. Knowledge was significantly associated with participants' educational qualification and work experience. More than half (55%) of them have an attitude that brand medicines are of higher quality compared to generics and 37.6% of them believe generic medicines are less effective than brand medicines. About 80% of the participants claimed that locally manufactured generics are cheaper than imported generics. Affordability to the customer, cost effectiveness of generic medicine and consumer preference/demand were the commonest reasons to dispense generic medicines. Conclusion: Though vast majority of the study participants have had knowledge on the concept of generic medicine, their attitude and practice seem suboptimal that will influence utilization of generic products.

Knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and practices of community pharmacists about generic medicine in Nigeria

“…This is consistent with the findings of a study carried out in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 17 but was at variance with the findings from studies carried out in Qatar, Poland, Palestine and Saudi Arabia where participants' demographic characteristics had nothing to do with their knowledge of generic medicines. 14,16,40,41 A result which suggests that the observed differences may be attributed to variances in country's laws and policies about generic medicines.…”

“…The results obtained about knowledge of generic medicines in our study, are consistent with the results from similar studies carried out in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and India. 15,17,39 Our result further showed that the knowledge of community pharmacists was significantly associated with demographic characteristics of the respondents such as gender, age, work experience and country of graduation. This is consistent with the findings of a study carried out in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.…”

“…These findings corroborate the results obtained from a study carried out in Ethiopia where demand was the commonest reason for dispensing generic medicines by community pharmacists. 17 A high number (93.2%) of the respondents were actively involved in generic medicine substitution without consulting physicians that prescribed such branded medicines. For the patients to have accepted the substituted medicines reflected the high level of trust reposed in the pharmacists.…”

“…Furthermore, attitude and practice of pharmacists towards generic medicines were sub-optimal and respondents' demand for generic medicines was the commonest reason for dispensing generic medicines. 17 In the USA, generic medicines are widely used and are seen as important medium that allows better access to healthcare for all Americans. 18 It has also been shown that Britain has one of the highest rates (80%) of generic prescribing in the world.…”

Generic substitution for prescribed brand medicines in Ethiopia: knowledge, attitude and practice among pharmacy professionals in community drug retail outlets

“…Generic substitution (GS) refers to a substitution of a prescribed brand medicine by a different form of an identical active substance or switching from prescribed brand medicines to identical generic medicines [ 6 , 12 ]. The practice of GS is strongly supported by health authorities globally [ 13 ]. GS can improve medicines utilization by making it more accessible and affordable [ 1 ].…”