ArticleBMJ open2021
Knowledge, perceptions and practices of pharmacists regarding generic substitution in China: a cross-sectional study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can Generic Medications Be a Safe and Effective Alternative to Brand-Name Drugs for Cardiovascular Disease Treatment? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- App-Based Training Module on Guiding Physicians' Prescription for Antibiotic Treatment of Gonorrhea: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Trial
- Testing the unintended cost effects of health policies for generic substitutions: the case of China's National Volume-Based Procurement (NVBP) policy.Health policy and planning · 2025Article
- Healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding China's National Centralized Drug Procurement policy: a cross-sectional study in Shaanxi Province.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Choice intention for the national volume-based procurement drug and its associated factors: a cross-sectional study on patients with late-life depression in China.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- The impacts of national centralized drug procurement policy on drug utilization of medical institutions: an empirical study in a county-level hospital in China.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- "Access to pharmacy services is difficult in China": a qualitative study from the perspective of transplant recipients to explore their expectations.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Influencing Factors of Generic Prescribing Behavior of Physicians: A Structural Equation Model Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Impacts of national volume-based drug procurement policy on the utilization and costs of antihypertensive drugs in a Chinese medicine hospital: an interrupted time series analysis of 5138 patients.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Patients' attitudes towards switching to national volume-based procurement (NVBP) Drugs-a qualitative investigation in Wuhan, China.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Factors facilitating and hindering counselling about generic substitution and a reference price system in community pharmacies - a survey among Finnish dispensers.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Article
- Factors associated with the uptake of biosimilars for breast cancer treatment from the perspectives of physicians and patients-Evidence from China.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Healthcare professionals' knowledge, attitude and practice towards National Centralized Drug Procurement policy in central China: A cross-sectional study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Healthcare Providers, Healthcare Regulatory Practitioners and Patients Toward Biosimilars in China: Insights From a Nationwide Survey.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- The change of drug utilization in China's public healthcare institutions under the "4 + 7" centralized drug procurement policy: Evidence from a natural experiment in China.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Changing Characteristics of Pharmaceutical Prices in China Under Centralized Procurement Policy: A Multi-Intervention Interrupted Time Series.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate pharmacists' knowledge, perceptions and practices towards generic substitution in the 11 pilot locations in China.
designAn online cross-sectional survey using questionnaires was conducted. A convenience sampling technique was implemented to recruit pharmacists. SETTING AND
participantsThe study took place in medical institutions of 11 pilot locations that participated in the pilot national centralised procurement programme in 2019. Two thousand two hundred and ninety-one pharmacists including hospital pharmacists or community pharmacists based on health-systems or clinics participated in the study.
resultsMost of the participants had the good knowledge of requirements for evaluating the quality and efficacy of generic drugs (n=2118; 92.4%), and the definition of generic drugs (n=2078; 90.7%). In terms of perceptions, 67.3% of respondents were of the opinion that generic drugs are equally as effective as the brand-name drugs, and 69.0% of respondents were of the opinion that generic drugs are as safe as brand equivalents. A high percentage of participants supported the policy of generic substitution (n=1634; 71.4%). A significant positive correlation was demonstrated between total knowledge score and total perception score (ρ=0.267; p<0.001). Efficacy, safety and the direction of national policies and hospital regulations were the main factors affecting pharmacists' willingness to dispense generic drugs.
conclusionsThe study identified gaps in respondents' knowledge and perceptions of generic substitution. Pharmacists who are more knowledgeable in generic drugs tend to hold a more supportive attitude towards generic substitution. Although it appeared that pharmacists in China have largely accepted generic substitution, they still have concerns regarding the reliability and quality of generic drugs. The current issues need to be addressed for the realisation of the true value of generic drugs as part of the country's healthcare cost-containment strategy as well as the implementation of generic substitution policy in China.
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