Generic medicines in European, American and Georgian markets

Abstract

The worldwide generic drugs are cheaper than their brand-name analogues. However, there are best-selling generic drugs in Georgia, which are much more expensive than brand-name drugs. At the same time, the trade margins on both generic and brand-name drugs are the highest in comparison with European countries. The methods of qualitative and quantitative research are used in this survey. Health care experts, doctors and pharmaceutical workers filled up the survey questionnaires. The results of the survey show that the following factors contribute to the increase of the prices of generic drugs: The peculiarities of the pharmaceutical market in Georgia; Non-formal agreements between pharmaceutical companies, which cause oligopoly on the pharmaceutical market. After analysis of the survey results, presented in this paper, the authors provide the following recommendations: Establish the upper limit on the trade margins of pharmaceutical products; The appropriate government authority should investigate the pharmaceutical market; Implement the system of electronic recipes; Government policy should ensure simplification of entering cheap generic drugs in the Georgian pharmaceutical market in correlation with the strong system of quality control.