Abstract

Background: Prescription of generic drugs can reduce costs without reducing quality. Lack of knowledge about the cost-effectiveness of generic medicines among the health-care professionals had led to a low rate of generic medicine prescription.

Aims and Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to explore knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of generic medicines among the prescribers in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Solapur, India.

Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional, observational, and questionnaire-based study. A 19-item multiple choice questionnaires were distributed to the participants to assess their KAP regarding generic medicine.

Result: Around 42.86% of the participants knew that generic medicines are bioequivalent to their innovator brand name drugs and can be interchanged with their brand name innovator drugs whenever required. 155 (71.58%) participants stated that they would like to encourage the patient for using generic medicines.

Conclusion: In our study, we found that the prescribers had a fair knowledge regarding the concept of generic medicines. However, to further increase the rate of generic medicine prescription training programs on generic medicines, continuing medical educations, workshops, etc., should be organized.

Key words: Attitude and Practice; Generic Medicines; Knowledge