Japanese pharmacists not Rxing generics

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."