Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 2016, 7, 369-378 http://www.scirp.org/journal/pp ISSN Online: 2157-9431 ISSN Print: 2157-9423 DOI: 10.4236/pp.2016.79045 September 1, 2016 Evaluation of the Knowledge and Perceptions of Patients towards Generic Medicines in UAE Suleiman I. Sharif * , Raneem J. Chaar, Zahraa Z. Albadrani, Jameel S. Shahwan, Mohamed N. Badreddin, Mohamed A. K. Charbaji Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmacotherapeutics, College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Abstract Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and percep- tions of patients towards generic medicines in some Emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involving patients in three Emirates was undertaken. A 23-item questionnaire was designed, pre-validated and administered. Results: The questionnaire was fully answered by 96 patients out of 120 producing a response rate of 80%. The majority of patients were young Arab females with a uni- versity degree. Slightly less than 50% of patients were having a monthly income of less than ED 10,000. Results of the patient’s survey indicate that they have poor knowledge and perception of generic medicines. They did not know the meaning of generic or brand medicines and this negatively influenced their responses to conse- quent questions. Conclusion: Patients’ knowledge and perception of generic drugs were poor. Efforts are needed to increase public awareness of generic drugs and possible brand substitution. Both the prescribing physician and the dispensing pharmacists have an essential role to play in educating their patients of generic drugs. Keywords Evaluation, Patients, Generic Medicines, Brand Medicines, Knowledge, Perception 1. Introduction Generic medicine use is increasing both in developing and developed countries. Pre- scribing trends among physicians can be investigated using the drug use indicators suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1]. In a previous study of this kind, we demonstrated that generic prescribing by both consultants and general practi- How to cite this paper: Sharif, S.I., Chaar, R.J., Albadrani, Z.Z., Shahwan, J.S., Badred- din, M.N. and Charbaji, M.A.K. (2016) Eva- luation of the Knowledge and Perceptions of Patients towards Generic Medicines in UAE. Pharmacology & Pharmacy, 7, 369- 378. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/pp.2016.79045 Received: August 11, 2016 Accepted: August 29, 2016 Published: September 1, 2016 Copyright © 2016 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access