Evaluation of Generic Antibiotic Usage from the Perspective of Drug Cost

INTRODUCTION: The drug costs are the biggest expense item among health expenditures. Increasing the use of generic drugs is the most important solution for decreasing costs. Antibiotics, with an 18.1% rate of prescription, are the most used pharmacological group worldwide. This study aims to calculate the original/generic drug costs of antibacterial agents prescribed to hospitalized patients in a university hospital.
METHODS: During 13 month-period prescribed drugs to hospitalized patients were recorded with the product names and amount, and drug costs were determined for the three active agents most commonly prescribed in the antibacterial group.
RESULTS: The total number of prescriptions was 337.462 during the 13-month-period and 46.3% of them were antibiotics. Among them, 94.4% were antibacterial agents. In the subgroup analysis, cephalosporin group of antibacterial agents was the most frequently prescribed. On the contrary, amoxicillin+sulbactam was found to be the most frequently prescribed active substances within the top 100 prescription drugs. When prescription details were evaluated, generic forms of active substances were more frequently prescribe than the original drugs. From the point of drug costs with the use of generic drugs for 13 month-period, the total saving was about 31%.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It is projected for 2023 that the proportion of drug costs in health expenditures will reach 25% in our country. When this data is taken into consideration, the usage and prescription of generic drugs should be encouraged. Establishing generic drug promotion policies, accelerating the regulatory processes of generic drugs, including generic drugs in reimbursement lists, without delay will increase the demand for generic drugs and contribute to the reduction of drug costs, which constitutes the most important part of health expenditures.