Analysis of pharmacists' opinions, attitudes and experiences with generic drugs and generic substitution in the Czech Republic.

Generic substitution (GS) is an integral part of drug policy in many countries. Similarly to other countries its introduction in the Czech Republic gave rise to a vibrant discussion. The aim of the study was to map and analyze pharmacists' opinions of, attitudes towards and experiences with generic drugs and GS after the first year from its legislative embodiment in the Czech Republic. All 7,665 members of the Czech Chamber of Pharmacists were addressed to participate in a questionnaire survey between November 2008 and March 2009. The questionnaire consisted of 28 questions concerning the issue of generic drugs and GS and was divided into five sections. All collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlations were tested by selected parametric and non-parametric tests. A total of 615 completed questionnaire forms were returned (a questionnaire return rate of 8.0%). The demographic characteristics of the respondents were as follows: 470 (76.4%) females, mean age of 37.5 years (SD = 10.4) and 429 (69.6%) pharmacists with a practice specialization. Altogether 345 (56.1%) respondents became aware of the issue of brand name and generic drugs during their undergraduate studies. 378 (61.5%) respondents considered generic drugs as bioequivalent and 455 (74.0%) respondents as therapeutically equivalent to the respective brand name drugs. 99 (16.1%) pharmacists believed that generic products are of lower quality than branded drugs and 69 (11.2%) respondents expected generics to cause more adverse drug reactions. GS was perceived as a positive tool by 476 (77.4%) respondents. Only 71 (11.5%) respondents showed acquaintance with all the legal rules for GS. Legislation awareness and attitude towards GS was correlated with age (p < 0.001). The use of GS in the routine practice depends on the pharmacists' familiarity with the relevant legislation and attitude towards generic drugs and GS. Approaching patients on an individual basis and pharmacists' awareness can minimize adverse drug events caused by generic drugs and at the same time enhance the professional status of pharmacists.