Drozdowska Aleksandra, Hermanowski Tomasz
Department of Pharmacoeconomics, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Żwirki i Wigury 81, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Pharmacoeconomics, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Żwirki i Wigury 81, 02-091 Warsaw, Poland.
Res Social Adm Pharm. 2016 Jan-Feb;12(1):119-129. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2015.03.003. Epub 2015 Mar 27.
Escalating pharmaceutical costs have become a global challenge for both governments and patients. Generic substitution is one way of decreasing these costs.
The aim of this study was to investigate factors associated with patients' choice between generic drugs and innovator drugs.
The survey was conducted in June 2013, 1000 people from across Poland were chosen as a representative population sample. The outcome (a preference for generics/a preference for innovator pharmaceuticals/no preference) was modeled by multinomial logistic regression, adjusted for several variables describing patients' sensitivity to selected generic features (price, brand, and country of origin), to third-party opinions about generics (information on generics in the mass media, opinions of health professionals (i.e. physicians, pharmacists), relatives/friends), as well as patients' personal experiences and income per household.
The results supported the predictive capacity of most independent variables (except for patient sensitivity to the country of origin and to the information on generics in the mass media), denoting patients' preferences toward generic substitution. Patient sensitivity to recommendations by physicians, generic brand, and household income were the strongest predictors of the choice between generic and innovator pharmaceuticals (P < 0.001). The probability of choosing generics over innovator drugs was significantly higher among respondents with the lowest income levels, in those who were indifferent to generic brand or their physician's opinion, as well as in respondents who were sensitive to recommendations by pharmacists or attached a greater value to a past experience with generics (their own experience or that of relatives/friends).
In consideration of the foregoing, awareness-raising campaigns may be recommended, supported by a variety of systemic solutions and tools to encourage generic substitution.
不断攀升的药品成本已成为政府和患者面临的全球性挑战。通用名药物替代是降低这些成本的一种方式。
本研究旨在调查与患者在通用名药物和创新药物之间选择相关的因素。
调查于2013年6月进行，从波兰各地选取1000人作为具有代表性的人群样本。通过多项逻辑回归对结果（对通用名药物的偏好/对创新药物的偏好/无偏好）进行建模，并针对描述患者对选定通用名药物特征（价格、品牌和原产国）的敏感度、对通用名药物的第三方意见（大众媒体上的通用名药物信息、医疗专业人员（即医生、药剂师）、亲属/朋友的意见）以及患者个人经历和家庭收入等多个变量进行了调整。
结果支持了大多数自变量的预测能力（患者对原产国和大众媒体上通用名药物信息的敏感度除外），表明患者对通用名药物替代的偏好。患者对医生建议、通用名药物品牌和家庭收入的敏感度是通用名药物和创新药物选择的最强预测因素（P < 0.001）。在收入水平最低的受访者中，对通用名药物品牌或医生意见不关心的受访者中，以及对药剂师建议敏感或更看重过去使用通用名药物经历（自己的经历或亲属/朋友的经历）的受访者中，选择通用名药物而非创新药物的概率显著更高。
鉴于上述情况，可能建议开展提高认识运动，并辅以各种系统性解决方案和工具以鼓励通用名药物替代。
