Perspectives of consumers or patients on the use of generic medicines

Abstract

Access to medicines constitutes a public health challenge worldwide. Promoting the utilization of generic medicines is one of the strategies that has been proposed to optimize pharmaceutical spending and thus allow greater coverage. However, its use is not yet widespread. This summary seeks to explore the perspectives and acceptability to the use of generic medicines from patients and consumers. Methods We searched in Epistemonikos, the largest database of systematic reviews in health, which is maintained by screening multiple information sources, including MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane, among others. We extracted data from the systematic reviews, reanalyzed data of primary studies, conducted a meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table using the GRADE approach. Results and conclusions We identified four systematic reviews including 47 studies overall, of which 1 corresponds to a randomized controlled trial. We concluded that a low rate of consumers have a negative perception regarding generic medicines, including dimensions such as effectiveness, quality, safety, and risk of adverse effects.