Use of generic medicines: Perspectives of consumers living in urban and suburban areas of Klang Valley in Malaysia
Bibliographic record
Abstract
PurposeIn 2007, Malaysia adopted a National Medicines Policy to ensure access to essential medicines through the implementation of generic medicines policy. Despite the presence of this strong policy, the use of generics among consumers is still low. Studies on perception towards generic medicines and the willingness to choose them are important determinants for the success of the generics policy. The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions and beliefs regarding the efficacy, safety, cost, and preferences for personal use of generics in Malaysia. MethodA cross-sectional survey using a validated questionnaire was conducted on 405 respondents living in urban and suburban areas in Malaysia. ResultsAlmost 40% of the respondents surveyed had negative perceptions about generics. There was no significant difference in beliefs of consumers about generics for acute and chronic conditions. Only a quarter of the respondents reported receiving information about generics from their health care providers, although the younger generation (25- to 34-year olds) adopted a more proactive approach in communicating with health care providers about generic options. While more than 60% reckoned that Malaysians spent too much money for the prescription medicines and a majority agreed that generics offer a better overall value, surprisingly only less than half preferred to take generics themselves. Mixed perceptions concerning the role of private insurers and the government in providing a standard guideline of generics use was observed. Personal financial savings remained the chief reason of willingness to use generics (70%). ConclusionsConsumers’ perceptions and knowledge about generics in Malaysia is poor, hence, there is a need for education. Health care providers should be educated and reassured about the approval system of generics concerning bioequivalence, and safety. These findings have significant implications in establishing an effective and sustainable generic medicines policy and promoting the practice of generic substitution in Malaysia.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".