New survey reveals that US consumers are wary of prescription switches

According to a new survey released by the US National Consumers League, nearly three-quarters of prescription drug users would be very concerned if a drug they were prescribed was switched to another product designed to treat the same condition without their doctor's knowledge. Even with their doctor knowing about it, one in five surveyed are concerned about the practice, called therapeutic substitution, the dispensing of an alternative to a prescribed medication that is not chemically or generically equivalent but is in the same therapeutic class and is used to treat the same condition.