Generic or Branded?
MEDICINE MATTERS
* A generic drug is made after the expiry of patent of the brand-me drug, generally after 20 years.
*A generic drug contains the same ingredients as the branded drug and in same concentration, but the two drugs may differ in colour, shape, taste, ictive ingredients, preservatives and packaging.
*A company spends lot of money on developing and marketing a branded drug. After the patent expires for the drug, other companies can produce the generic drug at much lower development costs and, therefore, sell it for less.
*The sole purpose of MCI asking doctors to prescribe generic drugs is to control medicine prices.
BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Sept 25: Nearly six months after the Medical Council of India (MCI) issued a notification asking doctors across the country to prescribe generic medicines, confusion as well as reluctance are prevailing among members of the medical fraternity in Assam over prescribing such drugs to patients.
Doctors in the State are still very much confused over the content of the MCI’s notification issued on 21st April last. The notification from the country’s apex medical regulator had stated that “every physician should prescribe drugs with generic mes legibly and preferably in capital letters and he/she shall ensure that there is a ratiol prescription and use of drugs”, reaffirming its order of September 2016.
“The MCI rule has clearly stated doctors should prescribe drugs with generic mes. The notification is vague as to whether doctors should ‘only’ prescribe generic mes. At the same time, it does not prohibit a doctor from writing the me of the company or the brand. Here ‘should’ means discretiol and non-mandatory. Prescribing drugs with generic mes only means writing chemical me of the drug. I am hugely confused as to whether I should prescribe generic or branded medicines to my patients since neither the MCI nor the Health Ministry has clarified the issue so far,” a senior doctor at the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH) told The Sentinel.
The doctor said the State Health Department must clarify the issue so that the confusion ends and physicians start prescribing either generic or branded medicines. He said most of the doctors are still prescribing branded drugs as the pharmacies are not following prescriptions containing the list of generic medicines.
Generic mes are the pharmacological mes of drugs (such as paracetamol) that can be sold under various brand mes (such as Crocin, Calpol or Pyrigesic). An official body gives a drug its pharmacological me while the manufacturer picks the proprietary brand me.
“Only the mandatory portion of the MCI’s 21st April notification (prescription shall have ratiolity of treatment and the drugs prescribed) can be actioble,” a former Principal of GMCH said.
On the other hand, many doctors are of the opinion that till the time production and marketing of branded drugs is allowed in India, their prescription cannot be banned. They can be banned only after the government stops issuing licences for their production, a doctor said.
“Before the government makes generic drugs mandatory, it must ensure adequate production and availability of quality generic drugs and stop production of branded drugs (except patented drugs) completely,” another doctor said.
When contacted, sources in the Health Department told this reporter that doctors could write the brand mes of medicines on their prescriptions as long as they also mention the generic mes.