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 4 Factors that matter when respondents choose an interchangeable prescription medicine (N=1043)

	All (n=1030^a)		Respondents who had only allowed GS (n=417^a,b)		Respondents who had only refused GS (n=60^a,b)		Respondents who had both allowed and efused GS (n=486^a,b)		Respondents who had no experience with GS (n=47^a,b)		p-value^d
	n	%^c	n	%^c	n	%^c	n	%^c	n	%^c	p-value^d
Price of the medicine	835	81.1	374	89.7	28	46.7	386	79.4	33	70.2	< 0.001
Familiarity with the medicine	396	38.4	108	25.9	41	68.3	221	45.5	19	40.4	< 0.001
Availability of the medicine	338	32.8	135	32.4	11	18.3	174	35.8	12	25.5	0.032
The medicine is Finnish	198	19.2	63	15.1	14	23.3	111	22.8	6	12.8	0.014
Opportunity to halve the tablet	190	18.4	74	17.7	14	23.3	93	19.1	6	12.8	0.524
Medicine pack	166	16.1	60	14.4	6	10.0	89	18.3	6	12.8	0.193
Excipients contained in the product	131	12.7	32	7.7	4	6.7	90	18.5	3	6.4	<0.001
Manufacturer of the medicine / pharmaceutical company	59	5.7	12	2.9	11	18.3	35	7.2	1	2.1	<0.001
Tablet/capsule shape	59	5.7	17	4.1	4	6.7	37	7.6	1	2.1	0.097
Product name / brand / name of the medicine	14	1.4	1	0.2	3	5.0	10	2.1	0	0.0	0.007
Tablet/capsule colour	11	1.1	3	0.7	0	0.0	7	1.4	1	2.1	0.438
Other reason^e	35	3.4	10	2.4	5	8.3	16	3.3	4	8.5	0.025

^aSome of the respondents did not answer the question concerning the factors that affected their choice of an interchangeable prescription medicine. ^bSome of the respondents did not answer the questions concerning their experience with GS. ^cThe respondents may have chosen several options. ^dChi-square test and Fisher’s exact test; statistically significant p-values (p < 0.05) are in bold. ^eE.g. recommendation or opinion of the physician or pharmacist

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