Hassali Mohamed A A, Shafie Asrul A, Jamshed Shazia, Ibrahim Mohamed I M, Awaisu Ahmed
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia.
Int J Pharm Pract. 2009 Apr;17(2):79-88.
To review the literature on consumers' knowledge, attitudes and opinions of the use of generic medicines.
A narrative review of studies conducted from 1970 to 2008 on consumers perceptions and views towards generic medicines was performed. An extensive literature search was undertaken using indexing services available at the authors' institution library. The following keywords were used for the search: brand, generic, multisource, medications, medicines, drugs, pharmaceuticals and consumers, customers, and patients. Electronic databases searched were Medline, Inside Web, ISI Web of Knowledge, Science Direct, Springer Link, JSTOR, Proquest, Ebsco Host and Google Scholar. These electronic databases were searched for full text papers published in English from 1970 to October 2008.
Twenty studies were identified. Eleven were from the USA, four were from Europe, two were from Canada and one each was from Australia, Brazil and Malaysia. In general, consumers showed mixed reactions towards the use of generic medicines. This was evident from the divergence of views observed by country development level, consumers' socioeconomic characteristics, drug product characteristics, pharmaceutical reimbursement system, policy environment, contact with health care professionals, past experience with medications, and knowledge of the seriousness of a medical condition.
Patient confidence and knowledge pertaining to generic medicines use have increased over the past four decades, especially in developed countries. Mass educational efforts, financial incentives, and greater communication among patients and health care professionals were seen as major drivers to the uptake of generic medicines among consumers.
回顾关于消费者对使用通用名药物的知识、态度和观点的文献。
对1970年至2008年进行的有关消费者对通用名药物的认知和看法的研究进行叙述性综述。利用作者所在机构图书馆提供的索引服务进行了广泛的文献检索。检索使用了以下关键词：品牌、通用名、多来源、药物、药品、毒品、制药以及消费者、客户和患者。检索的电子数据库有Medline、Inside Web、ISI Web of Knowledge、Science Direct、Springer Link、JSTOR、Proquest、Ebsco Host和谷歌学术。在这些电子数据库中检索了1970年至2008年10月以英文发表的全文论文。
共识别出20项研究。其中11项来自美国，4项来自欧洲，2项来自加拿大，1项分别来自澳大利亚、巴西和马来西亚。总体而言，消费者对使用通用名药物的反应不一。这从不同国家发展水平、消费者社会经济特征、药品特征、药品报销制度、政策环境、与医护人员的接触、过去用药经历以及对病情严重程度的了解所观察到的观点分歧中明显可见。
在过去四十年中，患者对使用通用名药物的信心和知识有所增加，尤其是在发达国家。大规模教育努力、经济激励措施以及患者与医护人员之间更多的沟通被视为推动消费者使用通用名药物的主要因素。
