Abstract
Background: Physicians have a choice between original and generic drugs while prescribing to patients. The original and generic drugs are rarely studied against each other in patient population, and, hence, it is important to know how health-care providers perceivethedifferencesbetweentwoclassesofthedrugs.AimsandObjective:Toanalyzethebeliefs,perceptions,andattitudesof health-care providers in a tertiary-care hospital toward generic and original drugs. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study conducted among 200 students and faculty in a tertiary-care hospital in western India. Thequestionnairemainlydealtwithperceptions,attitudes,andbeliefsofdoctorstowardgenericdrugsincomparisonwithoriginal drugs. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Result: Of 200 participants, 62% supported generic substitution for originaldrugsinmostcases,60(30%)supportedgenericsubstitutionsfororiginaldrugsinallcaseswheregenericswereavailable, and 16 (8%) did not support generic substitution for original drugs. One hundred and seventeen (58.5%) participants perceived that there was signiï¬cant difference between price of generic and original brand drugs. Although 56% participants believed that generic drugs are as effective as originals, 56% participants also mentioned that they have experienced difference in the quality of genericdrugsagainstoriginalbranddrugs.Conclusion:Thisstudyfoundagapbetweenknowledgescoreandgenericprescription practices, indicatingthat trainingprograms for health-care providersin India to improve their knowledge about generic drugs may be necessary.