ROYAL MEDICAL SERVICES PHARMACISTS' PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE QUALITY OF GENERIC MEDICINES IN JORDAN
Background: In latest years, the use of generic medications has obviously improved. Because of lower manufacturing cost, generics propose to have a great chance for financial saving in drug expenditure with maintaining the quality, efficacy and safety. In developing countries, health insurance companies, health authorities and governments have suffered from pharmaceutical expenditures that has grown rapidly particularly in the Last two decades. Inappropriate or lacking knowledge concerning generics may lead to unsuccessful and unsafe treatment. The aim of this study: Is to evaluate Pharmacist's perceptions toward generic medicine. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study, with a questionnaire, was conducted to survey pharmacists working in 6 hospitals. A mong 100 respondents, majority in the age group 30-40 (42%); and mostly females (68%). Overall, 7 respondents (7%) did not know what local generics were. About 31% of the respondents thought that local generics are of poorer quality compared to branded medicines. Only 49% of the surveyed pharmacists agreed that local generics can be considered therapeutically equivalent with the branded ones. A more years of practice had a direct relationship having acceptable knowledge of generic medicines (P<0.01). The majority of the respondents (55%) thought that local generics don not have the same safety standards compared with brand name drugs. Results: Many pharmacists have misunderstanding concerning generic medicines. Lack of knowledge may unhelpfully affect the community pharmacists’ support toward generic medicines. This concern should be addressed by Health system providers and academicians