Abstract:

Background; Generic medicines are those where the original patent has expired and which may now be produced by manufacturers other than the original innovator (patent holding) company. The term generic drug or generic medicines is commonly understood as defined by the world health organization (WHO), to mean a pharmaceutical product that is usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product.

Methods; A cross sectional study involving 380 outpatients at Sekou Toure Hospital was conducted from May to July 2022. Data was collected by from consenting patients using a pretested structured questionnaires. Data analysis was done by using the statistical package for social sciences software (SPPS).

Results; A total of 380 patients participated in my study. About one third of the participants 133 (35%) were at an age range (18-30 years). More than half of the patients participated were male 210(55.3%). Among all patients, only 100(26.3%) of the respondents were aware that Panadol is a brand medicine. only 95(25.0%) of the patients responded that there is a difference in price between generic medicine and brand medicines. Regarding buying, nearly half 169(44.5%) of the patients preferred buying of generic medicines. Among all patients only 110(28.9%) of the respondents thought that generic medicines were interchangeable with brand medicines, Only 108(28.4%) of the participants thought that generic medicines should be in the same dosage form as a brand medicines.

Conclusion; Awareness and perception about generic medicines among patients were poor, most of them had wrong information. Therefore it is important to empower patients with adequate information.