Abstract
According to the new Law “On medicines” physicians should prescribe medicines under generic names. For selecting among different available products patients will need community pharmacists’ counseling. This study evaluated relationship between prices and sales volume for available products of cardio-vascular medicines in Armenia. Data on prices and volumes of 1 month sales for all the available original/generic products of 5 cardio-vascular medicines (CVM) were collected from 50 community pharmacies in Yerevan and other regions of Armenia. Selected CVM were: captopril, enalapril, atenolol, amlodipine and simvastatin. Ratio of unit prices for lowest and highest priced products was calculated and compared with ratio of their sales volume. Median price of all the available products for each medicine was identified, and ratio of sales volume for products with a price higher than the median price and products with a price lower than the median price was identified. The ratio of prices for lowest and highest priced products for 1 tablet of captopril, 25mg was 1/8, enalapril, 10 mg – 1/6, atenolol, 50mg - 1/5, amlodipine, 5 mg - 1/8 and simvastatin, 20mg – 1/2. The ratio of sales volume for lowest and highest priced products were 139/1 for captopril, 9/1 for enalapril, 1/1 for atenolol, 6/1 for amlodipine, and 1/1 for simvastatin. The ratio of sales volume for products with a price higher than the median price and those with a price lower than the median price were 2.1/1 for captopril, 0.7/1 for enalapril, 1.3/1 for atenolol, 4.7/1 for amlodipine, and 3.5/1 for simvastatin. Although sales volume of lower-priced products is mainly higher, many patients purchase higher-priced generics. Community pharmacists’ counseling role should be expanded: for helping patients with selecting product among differently priced generics they could ask about preferences and provide appropriate information on price and quality of medicines.
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