Generic drug prescribing

This is the basic problem with any attempt to evaluate the overall effectiveness of placebos, as Beecher and the Danish researchers had tried to do. There is not just one placebo effect. Instead, the placebo effect depends on a host of factors. It depends, for example, on the condition being treated, the way in which the placebo is administered, the colour of the placebo, its price, whether it has a recognized brand name and the dose that is prescribed. Studies of the placebo effect reveal that, all else being equal, taking placebo pills four times per day is more effective than taking them only twice a day brand-name placebos are more effective than placebos presented as generic drugs placebo injections are more effective than placebo pills and more expensive placebos are better than cheaper ones.16... 

Sweden Co-payment, with maximum levels of sharing in health service bills, with the exception of hospital in-patient bills Per diem co-payment for in-patient services. Co-payment for therapeutic referrals Co-payment for the first drug prescribed, with significantly lower co-payments for subsequent prescriptions. RP system for medicines with generic equivalents... 

Second, we analyse the position of the leading products in the different therapeutic and generic drug markets. Our aim is to evaluate the extent to which the leaders achieve dominant positions in each market. Positions of dominance are shown in terms of the market share of the most frequendy prescribed active ingredient, product or presentation in its therapeutic group of active ingredients, products or presentations, called v, in which g = 1,2,..., G are mutually exclusive groups. 

In 1978,1 joined with Tom and Dr. David Smith (founder of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic) in support of Dr. Arnold Mandell, Chief of Psychiatry at UC San Diego. Amie had been taken to task when he tried to wean football players from amphetamines (without keeping adequate notes) and consequently had his prescribing license suspended. Eventually he regained it on appeal. I also teamed up with Tom and five other doctors to petition the FDA (unsuccessfully) to set clear standards for generic drugs. 

Generic drngs represent a low-cost alternative to more expensive brand-name products. The difference in cost between the average generic prescription and average brand name prescription now exceeds 90.00. Prescribers shonld take appropriate steps to ensure the prudent nse of generic drugs. 

For the practising doctor (in the UK) the British National Formulary provides a regularly updated and comprehensive list of drugs in their nonproprietary (generic) and proprietary names. The range of drugs prescribed by any individual is... 

Drugs This manual describes and catalogues the adverse side effects of more than 1350 commonly prescribed and over-the-counter generic drugs - more than 90 of which are new to this edition. All drugs have also been indexed by their Trade (Brand) names for easy accessibility. 

Some generic drugs from earlier editions have been eliminated from the print copy because either they have either been withdrawn from the marketplace or they are rarely, if ever, prescribed today. These drug profiles (together with all the information in this book) are available - and always will be - to subscribers on our website www.drugeruptiondata.com... 

Nightingale SL, Morisson JC. Generic drugs and the prescribing physician. JAMA 1987 258 1200-1204. 

Professionals should educate their clients about the differences between generic and brand-name medications so that an educated choice can be made and clients will not think of the pill as something different or less effective. There are laws in virtually all states that allow pharmacists to substitute generic drugs for many brand-name products. Some states actually require that a generic must be substituted if it is available (Heidari, 2000). If a client does not want a generic medication or if the provider does not want the client to have one, the prescription should state this specifically. The social worker should check to see that the prescriber has written the words dispense as written or do not substitute so that the pharmacist is required to fill the prescription with the brand-name product requested. 

The extent to which generic drugs, rather than the more expensive branded originals, are prescribed and dispensed varies widely among countries throughout the world (Table 1). Market shares can be expressed either in terms of units prescribed or as expenditure, and both modes of calculation are presented here wherever possible. 

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