The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) recently issued notifications directing all provincial governments to ensure that doctors should prescribe medicines with their generic names in public and private sector in the country.1,2 DRAP notification came in response to the public outcry on common malpractice in the country where pharmaceutical companies are accused of offering financial incentives to encourage prescribers to favour a particular brand. We welcome the new regulations that were issued in anticipation to reduce public out-of-pocket expenditure on medicines by increasing the public access to low-cost generic drugs. The DRAP has recently sought stakeholder’s opinion on generic medicines registrations.3 We, therefore, in this article, highlight the pitfalls of the newly proposed generic prescribing regulations, which if left unaddressed can jeopardise the foreseen benefits.
Prescribing, brands vs generics, low-cost generic medicines, bioequivalence and biowaiver regulations