Patients’ beliefs towards generic medicines in the United Arab Emirates

Objectives: Patients play an important role in activating the generic medicine policy as their acceptance of it reported as an essential factor. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the beliefs of patients in the UAE towards generic medicines and to identify the factors affecting their beliefs towards generic medicines. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 1st March and 1st June 2016. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 600 adult patients in Ajman and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences® (IBM SPSS) version 21 for Windows. Results: 500 patients participated in this study. The findings of this study found that 44% of patients understand the difference between generic and branded medicines. The majority of patients in this study didn’t know that the efficacy and safety of generic medicines are the same as branded medicines. The majority of patients in this study were not familiar with the similarity and differences between generic medicines and branded medicines. Conclusion: The current study found that the patients had negative beliefs towards generic medicines. The findings of this study found that the following factors contributed to the patients’ beliefs towards generic medicines: gender, age, education level, and monthly income.