title: From generic scheme to brand-generic scheme: Have new policy influenced the efficiency of Iranian pharmaceutical companies?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Brand-generic scheme was implemented in Iran to improve the competition in the pharmaceutical market. In this study, we aim to assess if this policy had any positive effect on efficiency of Iranian pharmaceutical companies.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data envelopment analysis to evaluate the relative efficiency of pharmaceutical companies during 1999-2008. The Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank and sign tests were used to assess the difference between mean technical efficiency of companies before and after implementation of the new policy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank tests did not show any significant differences in favor of the new policy in terms of both relative and pure (managerial) technical efficiency for included companies (P = 0.079 and 0.07, respectively), but the one-sided sign test indicated that only relative pure (managerial) efficiency has been improved after this policy (P = 0.031).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The "brand-generic scheme" does not seem to be a successful policy to improve efficiency level and prompt competition in pharmaceutical companies in Iran. To achieve this aim, consideration of infrastructural requirements including transparent and non-discriminating laws and regulations to support competition, the competitive pricing policies, the presence of international companies in the market, and full privatization of companies had to be also deeming by policy makers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hashemi-Meshkini
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Non-Communicable Disease Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Varmaghani
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Management, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yousefi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yaghoubifard
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Economics, Allameh-Tabatabaiee University of Human Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hedieh-Sadat
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Zekri
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran ; Food and Drug Organization, Iranian Ministry of Health, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shekoufeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nikfar
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmaceutical Management, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kebriaeezadeh
keywords: Data envelopment analysis; Iran; efficiency; pharmaceutical