Medical and pharmacy students’ knowledge and perceptions about generic medicines in Bangladesh Mohammad Kawsar Sharif Siam a , Abbas Khan b and Tahir Mehmood Khan c a Department of Pharmacy, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, b Department of Pharmaceutical Science, School of Pharmacy, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan and c Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Clinical Pharmacy, King Faisal University, AlAhsa, Saudi Arabia Abstract Objective To explore medical and pharmacy students’ knowledge and perception towards the use of generic medicines in Bangladesh. Method A convenience sample was drawn from six Bangladeshi universities/medical colleges using an 18-item questionnaire. A total of n = 398 pharmacy and medical students were approached to participate. Scoring of responses was done for the 10 items in the perception section (score range 0–10). Data was analysed using SPSS version 13 and the difference among the groups were estimated using independent samples t-test. Results A total of 346 students willingly participated in this study, which amounted to a response rate of 86.93%. About 85.5% of the respondents indicated that they had heard about generic and branded medicines. From both groups 70–80% were able to distinguish between generic and branded medicines. There were significant differences in knowledge among the pharmacy (4.86  1.55) and medical (4.20  1.62) students (P < 0.001, t = 3.83, 95% con- fidence interval 0.323–1.00). Conclusion Overall, there were knowledge deficits in both groups with a moderate level of perception about generic medicine. Keywords Bangladesh; generic medicine; knowledge; medical students; perception; phar- macy students Introduction People have been using medicines for centuries. With the passage of time, modern medicines have replaced traditional medicines for a variety of disorders. Decreased in morbidity and mortality, with profound effects on the quality of life of patients, are the main reasons for the use of modern medicines. [1] Regardless of these benefits, nearly one-third of the world’s population has no access to essential medicine. Approximately half of the population in Asian and African developing countries are deprived of basic essential medicines. [2] The main barrier to medicine access is the lack of affordable prices. To improve access to medicines at an affordable price, the concept of generic medicines was introduced. [3] ‘Generic’ medicines are the therapeutic equivalent (i.e. interchangeable) of proprietary, branded or innovator medicines. [4] In other words, generic medicines are drugs that are marketed in the same dosage form, with the same dose and route, and possessing the same safety and efficacy profiles as the equivalent innovator medicines. [4,5] The only difference is that generic medicines are more cost-effective than the innovator medicines. The pharmaceutical sector has become well established in developing nations such as Bangladesh. At the moment there are about 8000 formulations on the Bangladeshi market. Of these, about 70.9% of the market share goes to generic products. [6] In spite of this higher market share, promoting the use of generic medicines has always been a sensitive issue for the prescribers. [5,7] Issues affecting prescriber attitudes towards prescribing of generic drugs include concerns about the bioequivalence, quality and safety of generic medicines. [5,8] Surprisingly, it has proven hard to modify the prescription and dispensing practices of healthcare providers. [9,10] A potential reason may be limited coverage in university curricula of the concept of generic medicines, which would affect the attitudes of healthcare providers in practice. [11] Repeatedly it has been highlighted that Bangladeshi medical curricula are not up to date. [12,13] Similarly, pharmacy curricula also contain traditional elements that have a Correspondence: Tahir Mehmood Khan, College of Clinical Pharmacy , Pharmacy Practice, King Faisal University, Alahsah 31879, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. E-mail: tahir.pks@gmail.com Research Paper JPHSR 2013, 4: 57–61 © 2013 The Authors JPHSR © 2013 Royal Pharmaceutical Society Received 4 August 2012; Accepted 23 September 2012 DOI 10.1111/jphs.12008 ISSN 1759-8885 57 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/jphsr/article/4/1/57/6096404 by guest on 21 July 2023