Abstract
Introduction and Objective : Although the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan has encouraged the use of generic drugs, the promotion of generic drugs has met considerable difficulty in the field of anticancer medicine. We conducted a questionnaire study to identify the nature of this difficulty from the viewpoint of pharmaceutical companies and from the medical personnel, respectively.
Method : A survey was conducted among generic pharmaceutical companies (members of the Japanese Society of Generic Medicines) from October to December in 2008, and another survey among doctors (hospitals, clinics), pharmacists (hospitals, pharmacies), and pharmacy students from August to December in 2008. Participants were questioned about current awareness, perceived problems and the necessity, of generic anticancer drugs.
Results : Eighteen of 28 companies (response rate, 64%) answered the questionnaire. Answers from medical personnel were collected from 49 doctors (response rate, 34%), 29 pharmacists (response rate, 29%) and 54 pharmacy students (response rate, 100%).
Although all 18 companies indicated that generic anticancer drugs were desirable, many companies expressed hesitation to develop generic drugs due to various obstacles in sales and manufacturing. Furthermore, while medical personnel were well aware of the necessity of generic anticancer drugs, they expressed a negative attitude toward increasing the use of such drugs at present.
Conclusion : In general, there is a consensus that anticancer agents are extremely cytotoxic medicine that must be used with special care, and hence it is inadvisable to use generic anticancer drugs in the same manner as the rest of the generic drugs. However, switching to generic drugs is almost inevitable under the current the present government’s health care system. Tri-lateral cooperation among medical personnel, industry and academia is essential in order to generate the evidence necessary to eliminate apprehensions surrounding generic anticancer drugs.
