ArticleBMC health services research2008
Influence of mandatory generic substitution on pharmaceutical sales patterns: a national study over five years.
Article in BMC health services research, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Behaviour change interventions to promote prescribing of generic drugs: a rapid evidence synthesis and systematic review.BMJ open · 2014Pooled it
- Developing a framework to assess off-patent medicines policies in Latin America and the Caribbean.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Review
- Improving the availability of prescription drugs in Lebanon: a critical analysis of alternative policy options.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Comparing Generic Drug Markets in Europe and the United States: Prices, Volumes, and Spending.The Milbank quarterly · 2017Article
- Transitioning to a national health system in Cyprus: a stakeholder analysis of pharmaceutical policy reform.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2015Article
- A review of the differences and similarities between generic drugs and their originator counterparts, including economic benefits associated with usage of generic medicines, using Ireland as a case study.BMC pharmacology & toxicology · 2013Review
- The association between automatic generic substitution and treatment persistence with oral bisphosphonates.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2012Article
- The effects of drug market regulation on pharmaceutical prices in Europe: overview and evidence from the market of ACE inhibitors.Health economics review · 2011Article
- Norwegian patients on generic antihypertensive drugs: a qualitative study of their own experiences.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2011Article
- The impact of generic substitution on the activities of pharmaceutical companies - a survey from the companies' perspective one year and five years after the introduction of generic substitution in finland.BMC clinical pharmacology · 2010Article
- Patients' Preferences for Generic and Branded Over-the-Counter Medicines: An Adaptive Conjoint Analysis Approach.The patient · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMandatory generic substitution was introduced in Sweden in October 2002 in order to try to curb escalating pharmaceutical expenditure. The aim of this study was to investigate how sales patterns for substitutable and non-substitutable pharmaceuticals have developed since the introduction of mandatory generic substitution; furthermore, to compare sales patterns in different groups of the population, based on patients' age and gender.
methodsFive therapeutic groups comprising both substitutable and non-substitutable pharmaceuticals were included. The study period was from January 2000 to June 2005. National sales data were used, covering volumes of dispensed prescription medicines (expressed in defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants and day) of each pharmacological substance in the therapeutic groups for each age and gender group. Sales patterns for substitutable and non-substitutable pharmaceuticals were compared using a descriptive approach.
resultsIn most therapeutic groups there has been an increase in the volumes of substitutable pharmaceuticals sold since the introduction of the reform, ranging from one third to three times the initial volume; whereas the volumes of non-substitutable pharmaceuticals have levelled out or declined. There were few gender differences in sales patterns of substitutable and non-substitutable drugs. In three therapeutic groups, sales patterns differed across different age groups, and there was a tendency for volumes of recently introduced non-substitutable pharmaceuticals to be proportionally higher in the youngest age groups.
conclusionSince the introduction of the reform, there has been a proportionally larger increase in sales of substitutable pharmaceuticals compared with sales of non-substitutable pharmaceuticals. This indicates that the reform might have contributed to larger sales of less expensive pharmaceuticals.
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