Price Comparison between Innovator and Generic Medicines Sold by Community Pharmacies in the State of Penang, Malaysia

Generic medicines play a key role in the affordability of pharmaceuticals. This study aims to compare price and to document the actual savings that can be achieved if generics are used by consumers in the state of Penang, Malaysia. This is a cross-sectional pilot study on the price of innovator and generic medicines for the 20 most-used medications in Malaysia. Upon consent, 20 retail pharmacies were conveniently selected. A pre-validated data collection form was used to collect their selling price from the community pharmacist. The analysis was limited to medicines in the same dosage form and dose. Those still under patent protection or combined with other active ingredients were excluded from the study. This study found that most innovator drugs are 27–90 per cent more expensive than generics. Some generic drugs are, however, more expensive than their innovator counterparts (40 per cent higher). Some locally produced generics are also more expensive than foreign products. The current findings suggest that consumers can save up to 90 per cent of the cost of their medication by using generic products. Further investigation is needed to explore the causality of the observed differences in price of products in order to increase their accessibility to the general population.