Opinion and behaviour of pharmacists towards the substitution of branded drugs by generic drugs: survey of 1,000 French community pharmacists.
OBJECTIVE
In 1999, a new law was introduced, giving French pharmacists the right to switch from branded to generic drugs, unless the prescriber had specified that substitution was not permitted. The purpose of this study was to assess the opinion and behaviour of community pharmacists toward substitution.


METHODS
Self-completion, postal close-ended questionnaires were filled out.


METHODS
1,000 French community pharmacists were included.


RESULTS
90% of the pharmacists were favourable to the implementation of the substitution right. 42.5% declared they systematically offered patients the generic drug, whereas 55% chose to target specific populations for substitution. The reluctance of pharmacists could be commercial ('How do I get paid for the time spent? Is it worth risking loosing a customer?'), or cultural ('How do I work this out? Who should I offer generic drugs to? What strategy should I use to offer them?').


CONCLUSIONS
Generic drug distribution is very recent in France and is not yet common practice. Pharmacists and patients must be informed and trained because substitution is a collaborative act. It does not depend solely on the will and experience of pharmacists.
Clinical Pharmacy Department, Grenoble School of Pharmacy, France Pavillon Moidieu, CHU de Grenoble, 38700 La Tronche, France. BAllenet@chu-grenoble.fr
Benoît
B
Allenet
Hervé
H
Barry
D000328:Adult; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services; D003625:Data Collection; D016568:Drugs, Generic; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D007880:Legislation, Drug; D007885:Legislation, Pharmacy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D016568:Drugs, Generic