Perspectives of physicians practicing in low and middle income countries towards generic medicines: A narrative review

- A review of physicians' views of generic medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- Physicians from LMICs have mixed views about generic medicines.
- In LMICs, there is a lack of coherent policies that encourage wide utilization of generic medicines.

ObjectivesThis review was conducted to document published literature related to physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of generic medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to compare the findings with high-income countries.MethodsA systematic search of articles published in peer-reviewed journals from January 2001 to February 2013 was performed. The search comprised nine electronic databases. The search strategy involved using Boolean operators for combinations of the following terms: generic medicines, generic medications, generic drugs, generic, generic substitution, generic prescribing, international non-proprietary, prescribers, doctors, general practitioners, physicians, and specialists.ResultsSixteen articles were included in this review. The majority (n = 11) were from high income countries and five from LMICs. The main difference between high income countries and LMICs is that physicians from high income countries generally have positive views whereas those from LMICs tend to have mixed views regarding generic medicines. Few similarities were identified among different country income groups namely low level of physicians' knowledge of the basis of bioequivalence testing, cost of generic medicines as an encouraging factor for generic medicine prescribing, physicians' concerns towards safety and quality of generic medicines and effect of pharmaceutical sales representative on generic medicine prescribing.ConclusionThe present literature review revealed that physicians from LMICs tend to have mixed views regarding generic medicines. This may be due to differences in the health care system and pharmaceutical funding system, medicine policies, the level of educational interventions, and drug information sources in countries of different income levels.