Patients’ beliefs toward generic medication in Yemen

Purpose This study aims to explore patients’ knowledge and beliefs toward generic medicines and identify the factors affecting their beliefs toward them in Yemen. Patients and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 1 to July 1, 2016. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 590 adult patients in Sana’a. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences® (IBM SPSS) version 26 for Windows. Results Overall, 370 patients participated in this study. The study identified that a majority of the respondents did not know the similarities and differences between generic and branded medication and had negative beliefs toward generic medication. The study identified the factors contributing to the patients’ beliefs toward generic medication. Conclusion Yemeni patients had poor knowledge and negative beliefs toward generic medication. Educational programs provided to patients and healthcare professionals regarding generic medication can improve patients’ knowledge and correct their beliefs in this regard.

Recent court orders in patent suits on limits of Bolar exemption: Shrinking space for pharmaceutical generic companies in India?

The generic pharmaceutical sector in India transformed over the last few decades. However, certain recent judicial developments may impact the flexibility that generic companies have for development of future generics. This article looks at some of these developments. The developments covered are: a) interpretation and application of the Bolar flexibilities and b) hurdles in claiming use under S.107 A.

Brand drug companies impeding generic drug company access to product samples: Estimated prevalence and impact on drug costs

Some brand drug companies have stymied attempts by generic drug companies to obtain samples of brand drugs needed to develop and gain regulatory approval for their generic products. This conduct, which has been reported in both the US and Canada, raises drug costs to drug plans and other payors and can lessen competition. The literature to date contains little empirical evidence on the prevalence of this conduct, the attendant effects on generic drug market launches and costs incurred by drug payors. This paper addresses these questions for Canada, using data on the drug development projects undertaken by the members of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association over the period 2015–2019. I found that about 16% of generic drug development projects were delayed due to originator firm efforts to impede access to samples of their drugs. The median generic drug launch delay (among affected drugs) attributable to the challenged conduct was 6 months. The additional costs to drug payors from the resulting delays in generic drug launches over the analysis period was in the order of $284 million, or $57 million annually. This study did not explore the additional generic drug development costs attributable to the challenged conduct.

A review and analysis of product recall for pharmaceutical drug product

The pharmaceutical industry's primary concern is to provide high-quality drug products to the general public, so drug recalls play an important role in maintaining the quality system by removing defective products from the market. Pharmaceutical product recalls are increasing at an alarming rate as a result of increased inspection rates and the introduction of modernization and the digital world into the industry, raising concerns for regulatory agencies and public health to focus on more stringent regulations to control future recalls of defective drug products. This article will provide an overview of recall procedures, their impact on the pharmaceutical industry, and the various steps taken to reduce pharmaceutical recalls.

Comparison of generic drug registration strategies between health Canada and Gulf Cooperation Council

Recently, generic drug products have played an increasingly important role in the health care system globally, especially in the developing world, as they provide for an effective and more affordable alternative for healthcare professional. Generic drug products are proven therapeutically equivalent to the corresponding innovator’s product, and hence can be substituted in clinical practice. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s pharmaceutical market is known to be semi-regulated market when compared with Health Canada and the United States of America drug regulatory market. Product regulation in Gulf Cooperation Council and Health Canada are challenging task in comparison to EU and USA. This study aimed to understand the generic drug registration comparison of Health Canada and Gulf Cooperation Council’s. The aim of this study was achieved by review of the Health Canada and Gulf Cooperation council guidelines and publications. Health Canada and Gulf Cooperation council follows Common Technical Document format and also emphasizes on safety, quality and efficacy of the drug. In summary Gulf Cooperation council and Health Canada offers lucrative market for Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer and the process of registration has been simplified by centralized procedure.

The anatomy of CUSMA’s patent: Does it still reflect an equipoise?

The Protocol of Amendment to the Agreement between the United States of America, Canada and the United Mexican States erased many of the TRIPS-plus provisions inserted earlier into the Canada- United States of America-Mexico Agreement (hereafter, CUSMA) signed on 30 November 2018. While the erasure of the provisions shows the contributions made to promote access to medicines, the Agreement still retains TRIPS-plus provisions, including the provisions on patent term extensions. Thus seen, irrespective of the changes introduced by the Protocol of Amendment, patent term extensions may have a negative implication on access to cost-cutting medicines (biosimilars and generics). Against this backdrop, this paper focuses on patent term extensions, as contained in the CUSMA’s Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) chapter. The paper investigates if & how the patent term extension has the potential to impede access to affordable medicines (biologics and chemically synthesized medicines). In so doing, the paper provides possible responses to the question, do the provisions on patent term extensions hinder the timely access to affordable medicines? As such, the first part of the paper succinctly looks at CUSMA. Section “Patent protection under the TRIPS agreement” examines the TRIPS patent regime. While “The CUSMA’s rules on patent term extension” section discusses the nature of obligations included in the CUSMA’s IPRs chapter, the Section “The CUSMA’s rules on patent term extension vis-à-vis access to medicines” analyzes the potential implications of patent term extensions on access to affordable medicines. The final section concludes the paper.