Brand and Generic Drug Bias and Willingness to Pay

Abstract

Specific Aims: To explore patients’ perceptions of the safety and effectiveness for brand medications compared to generic medications, and determine the possible reasons for those perceptions. Methods: Business cards were issued to patients that picked up their prescriptions at a Walgreens community pharmacy and members of a health club. These business cards linked recipients to an online Qualtrics questionnaire that collected participant beliefs regarding the safety and effectiveness of brand and generic drugs. Age, biologic sex, and education background information was also collected. Main Results: Questionnaires were completed by 13 men and 30 women. Seventy-nine percent of respondents were under the age of 38. More than 86% of respondents held a bachelor’s degree or higher. More than 18% of respondents expressed belief that brand medication is safer than generic, and the same percent (18.6%) of respondents expressed belief that brand medication is more effective than generic medication. More than half (53.5%) of respondents indicated they would be willing to pay more for brand medication. Reasons for paying more for brand medication include perceived differences in safety or effectiveness, brand recognition, and trust in a brand. Conclusions: Although most of our study participants believe brand and generic medication to have similar safety and effectiveness, over half are willing to pay more for brand names.