Reasons for allowing and refusing generic substitution and factors determining the choice of an interchangeable prescription medicine: a survey among pharmacy customers in Finland

Table 3 Reasons for allowing and refusing GS

	n	%^a
Reasons for allowing GS (n=864^b)
Willingness to lower medicine expenses	652	75.5
The prescribed medicine was unavailable at the pharmacy	266	30.8
The previously used medicine was unavailable at the pharmacy	237	27.4
Pharmacist’s recommendation	225	26.0
Dissatisfaction with the medicine that was used before	31	3.6
Physician’s recommendation	23	2.7
Some other reason^c	39	4.5
Reasons for refusing GS (n=528^d)
Too small a difference in price of the interchangeable medicines	334	63.3
Satisfaction with the medicine used before	318	60.2
The interchangeable medicine that the customer wanted was unavailable at the pharmacy	72	13.6
Customer’s concern that the interchangeable medicine will be less effective than the medicine used before	67	12.7
Choice of interchangeable medicine was made during physician visit	59	11.2
Too many switches before a suitable one was found	48	9.1
Customer’s concern that the interchangeable medicine will be less effective than the one prescribed by the physician	42	8.0
Customer’s medicines are subject to special reimbursement^e, so the customer would not have benefited from the saving	26	4.9
Customer did not receive enough information about different alternative products	22	4.2
Fear of mixing up medicines	15	2.8
Some other reason^f	72	13.6

^aRespondents may have chosen several options
^bOnly customers who had experience with allowing GS answered this question. However, some did not report reasons for allowing GS
^cE.g. willingness to purchase a Finnish product, the medicine was substituted in order to receive full reimbursement, and the previously used medicine was no longer manufactured
^dOnly customers who had experience with refusing GS answered this question. However, some did not report reasons for refusing GS
^eIn Finland, reimbursements for medicines are divided into three rates: basic reimbursement (40% of the prescription medicine price), lower special reimbursement (65%) and higher special reimbursement (100%, the customer pays a €4.50 co-payment per prescription medicine purchase) [37]
^fE.g. the cost of the medicine is not paid by the customer, willingness to purchase a Finnish product, handy packet, and customer’s experience or fear of side effects

ISSN: 1472-6963