Possible ways to encourage more prescribing of generics in the UK include financial incentives with educational intervention and audit/feedback, according to a review of data on prescribing behaviour [1].
Generics are often substantially cheaper than their brand-name counterparts. Therefore, use of generics rather than brand-name drugs can lead to substantial cost savings. Although generic drug prescribing in England is high – reaching 80% – there have been found to be large variations in the prescribing of generics by physicians across England.
Researchers from the University of York investigated systematic reviews and carried out a rapid systematic review of primary research in order to identify and summarize the relevant research evidence on the generics prescribing behaviour of physicians in England.
Ten reviews were included for the initial evidence synthesis, however, due to methodological weaknesses and conflicting results, most of the reviews were of limited usefulness in trying to answer the question of what interventions were the most effective for promoting the prescribing of generics. One review, which evaluated the effect of prescribing policies, showed an increase in generics prescribing when financial incentives were used.
Thirteen primary studies of other interventions were included for the rapid review. Two studies showed an increase in the percentage of overall generics prescribing with educational interventions; two studies showed an improvement in generics prescribing rates when physicians collaborated with pharmacists, though in one study this was not statistically significant; two US studies showed improvements in generics prescribing with electronic prescribing. Five out of seven studies showed positive results with multifaceted interventions.
Due to the limitations of the evidence base, the authors concluded that it was difficult to draw any firm conclusions about the relative effectiveness of different approaches. However, they went on to state that financial incentives with educational intervention and audit/feedback look promising but decision-makers should take into account the practicality and costs of the interventions before implementation.
Conflict of interest
The authors of the research paper [1] declared that there were no conflicts of interest.
Editor’s comment
Readers interested to learn more about initiatives to increase generics prescribing are invited to view the following manuscript published in GaBI Journal:
European payer initiatives to reduce prescribing costs through use of generics
If you are interested in contributing a research paper in a similar area to GaBI Journal, please send us your submission here.
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Reference
1. Moe-Byrne T, Chambers D, Harden M, McDaid C. Behaviour change interventions to promote prescribing of generic drugs: a rapid evidence synthesis and systematic review. BMJ Open. 2014;4(5):e004623 doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004623
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