Evaluation of Pharmacists' Opinion and Knowledge Regarding Generic Medicinal Products in Poland.

Abstract

Introduction of rules that enabled registration of generic medicinal products constituted one of the major breakthroughs in pharmacotherapy. Generic drugs currently available on the market meet the criteria of bioequivalence that have been agreed upon by registration agencies all over the world. They allow treatment that is as effective and safe, as the one achieved with their reference products. Lower prices of generic drugs are due to the reduced costs of obtaining the marketing authorization, and these drugs meet the same quality requirements as the reference products. However, some cases of lack of therapeutic equivalence may be found in the literature. As in Poland pharmacists are allowed to switch between reference and generic drugs the aim of our study was to evaluate pharmacists’ perception, views and knowledge regarding generic medicines. We also explored their perception of safety, quality and efficacy of generic drugs. The questionnaire, consisting of 16 questions was sent to Polish pharmacists. We show, that pharmacists are aware of law aspects of approval and marketing authorization for generic medicinal product in Poland. Moreover, they are familiar with various aspects and limitations of reference-generic products switch. In conclusion, our comprehensive analysis of pharmacists role allows to have a broad picture of actions that have been made in the area of generic drug safety monitoring in Poland.