STUDY: GENERICS BOOST PATIENT ADHERENCE

Although the generics industry promotesits products as therapeutically identicalto higher-priced brand name drugs,newly published research now suggeststhat patient adherence to a therapeuticregimen is higher for patients on genericsrather than branded drugs. The study, publishedin the February 13, 2006, issue ofthe journal Archives of Internal Medicine,concluded that patients given the genericversion of a drug were found to adhere totheir treatments better than those prescribedthe brand name versions. "Aftercontrolling for patient sociodemographiccharacteristics and drug class, [the proportionof days covered] was 12.6% greaterfor patients initiated on generic medications,"the researchers concluded.