Abstract
Corresponding to the recent increase in consumption of generic drugs, we conducted a ques-tionnaire survey of generic drugs to pharmacy visitors asking if they recognized the name of the generic drugs and their reasons for changing from the original drugs to generic medicine besides other items. The main topic of the survey was angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB): the medicine for treating high blood pressure. We surveyed visitors to five Chuo Medicine pharmacies in Aomori city from February 6 to April 27, 2018, and obtained 1713 responses. The person who knew the word “generic drugs” reached about 90%, and the person who had changed an original drug to a generic drug was about 60%. As a result, the situation that the respondents using generic drugs widely became clear. On the other hand, the recognition rate of the name of ARB, particularly generic drugs, was low; therefore, we consider most people are not concerned with an individual product. The most frequently observed reason for changing to a generic drug was a recommenda-tion by the pharmacy. We think that pharmacists significantly influence the choice of generic drugs; therefore, the pharmacist's role will become more critical in that the patients are willing to know an individual product of the medicine.
