Tanzanian Association Oslo

Drug copies cause

difficulties

The Government wants to save subsidies by making patients use cheaper copies of expensive drugs. However, one in three users have difficulties with their new medication.

Which pill was I supposed to stop using? PHOTO: MIODRAG GAJIC / CRESTOCK

A recent survey carried out by the University of Oslo, indicate that a third of the patients who have had to switch to a different brand of medicine, run into difficulties, writes daily newspaper Vårt Land.

The use of drug copies has increased fivefold over past seven years. Since 2001, chemists have had to hand out less expensive alternatives to brand name medicines.

"The arrangement saves money for both the patient and the authorities, but changing medicines also creates problems for patients and doctors," says vice-chairman of the General Practitioners Association, Ole Edvard Strand.

"With this system the doctor doesn’t know what drug the patient will end up with, when you write a prescription and that’s definitely a problem," says Strand.

Doctors may prescribe a particular drug, but the dispensing chemist has to exchange it with a cheaper version and sell this alternative to the customer.

The possibility of taking the wrong medicine also increases with age.

"The older you are the greater the risk of taking the wrong amount of a drug. Even if the new drug looks different, not all patients remember to stop taking their previous medication. They may take both the old and the new medication just to be sure," says Professor Else-Lydia Toverud at the University of Oslo.

Aftenposten English Web Desk / NTB