Related Articles ‘Not the full Monty’: a qualitative study of seniors’ perceptions of generic medicines in Western Australia. Aust J Prim Health. 2010;16(3):240-5 Authors: Bulsara C, McKenzie A, Sanfilippo F, Holman CD, Emery JE The study explored consumers’ perspectives on generic medicine use in Australia. A qualitative methodology was used to explore the topic, including community participation in the form of forums, focus groups and a panel of seniors. Three consumer forums were held from which a seniors’ panel was formed and a series of focus groups were conducted. Participants demonstrated considerable mistrust of generic medicines. Participants highlighted their uncertainty about the extent of pharmaceutical companies’ influence on health professionals, the mistrust of foreign generic manufacturers and scepticism in their equivalence. In addition, the substitution of generic medicines and variability in packaging added to the overall concern and reported poor compliance. Altering consumers’ beliefs and attitudes about generic medicines might require a more concerted effort to reduce consumer mistrust. Consumers’ beliefs about generic medicines will strongly affect attempts to increase generic prescribing in Australia. Many seniors require multiple medications for a range of chronic conditions. Currently however, the lack of uniformity in information and packaging implies that closer monitoring, greater clarity of information and improved packaging of generic medicines is required. Otherwise, the widespread problems and lower uptake of generic medicines amongst seniors will remain. PMID: 20815994 [PubMed - in process]
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‘Not the full Monty’: a qualitative study of seniors’ perceptions of…
Expiry of patent protection on statins: effects on pharmaceutical expenditure in Australia. Med J Aust. 2010 Jun 7;192(11):633-636 Authors: Clarke PM, Fitzgerald EM OBJECTIVE: To compare changes in the costs of statins following patent expiry in Australia and England, and to estimate projected savings for Australia based on the government and consumers paying prices equivalent to those in England and increased use of generics. DESIGN: Review of administrative data and predictive models based on recent trends. SETTING: Administrative price and quantity data for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme between January 2002 and October 2009, and comparable information from England. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Total government and consumer expenditure on statins whose patent has expired, and projected expenditure on all statins from January 2009 to December 2019 under various scenarios regarding pricing and prescribing trends. RESULTS: From January 2005 to October 2009, the cumulative loss to the Australian community from paying more than the English price for generic statins was more than $900 million. Expenditure could have been reduced by a further $1087 million if Australia had increased the proportion of generic medications prescribed to match trends in England. Future savings depend on the proportion of statin prescriptions that are subject to lower generic pricing. From January 2009 to December 2019, potential savings from paying English prices could be as high as $3.21 billion, and savings of up to $9.31 billion could be made by paying English prices and using generic statins only. CONCLUSION: The current arrangement for pricing statins places a considerable burden on the Australian community. Alternative pricing arrangements that provide incentives to lower statin prices and increase the proportion of generic prescriptions could be highly advantageous. PMID: 20528715 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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Expiry of patent protection on statins: effects on pharmaceutical…
