Japanese pharmacists in the insurance sector appear not to be dispensing generic drugs, even though physicians have approved the shift from branded to copy medicines in prescriptions, according to the detailed results of the generic drug usage survey conducted by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, which has recently been submitted to the Chuikyo (Central Social Insurance Medical Council).
Preliminary results in the insurance pharmacy survey were revealed at the March Chuikyo meeting (Marketletter April 6). According to the final findings, the generics dispensing rate has steadily increased. In the survey, 65.6% of pharmacists received prescriptions with no signature in the column "Do not change to generic drug." Among them, 74.8% did not change to a copy. 10.2 % and 8.9% of pharmacies also did not switch because the generics as prescribed were not listed in the National Health Insurance list and patients did not want the alternatives, respectively, while only 6.1% of pharmacies shifted even one branded product to a copy version.
33.5% of pharmacies said: "we are not eager to dispense generic drugs," with 40.2% (plural answers allowed) of them noting that the quality of generic drugs was not assured and stable supply systems were not established, respectively, while 36.7% said "efficacy is doubtful."
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