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Hello Everybody,

An interesting reading which highlights in couple of points why the doctor's opinion about generic medication has a strong influence (+/-) on patients decision to get treated with generic drugs.

bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/1...86/s12916-015-0415-3

P.s. @moderators: I failed to put this post in the Media and News section. May I ask you to move it there?

Cheers,
RHF

Thanks RHF,

In Australia while doctors often prescribe by brand name most pharmacists ask if you would like "generics if available" when you give them a script. Apparently about 40% of our prescription dispensing is generics these days.

On a personal note, my blood pressure tablets patent expired about two years ago. Since then the price of the branded product has halved but the generics are one third of the old price. Of interest is that one of the two generics that I am aware of obviously comes from the same factory/production line as the branded item but in plain packaging. So the manufacturer makes sure they get both the brand name business and a slice of the generics business.

An interesting read here (cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/57/suppl_2/S51.full.pdf) which addresses the barriers to hepatitis C care and stigmatization and in which there are couple of things to highlight:

- A defining element of relationships between clients and healthcare professionals is trust. A growing body of literature notes that trust between client and clinicians is essential for effective therapeutic encounters. Trust affects numerous important health-related behaviors, including willingness to seek care/use health services, uptake and adherence to treatment, quality of interaction between patient and doctor, patient disclosure, and behavioral change. In this sense, trust is interpersonal, a quality of the relationship between individual client and health worker. Nonetheless, it is also important to consider trust at the system level, that is, the extent to which clients trust both the health system and the range of other social systems that govern modern life.

Here I would add my own comment that when there exist a lack of trust in the healthcare system (rejecting or rationing the HCV treatment for high prices reasons or other policies) it is up to the patient to compensate this lack of trust .... by seeking and becoming better informed about HCV treatment options and to discuss the topic of affordable HCV medication (generics ) with his/her doctor.

- see also the example of "Peter" whose decision to seek another (friendlier) doctor enabled him to access the treatment.

- Developing genuine partnerships with people living with HCV and consulting them on the design and operation of health services may be a first step toward establishing, modifying, or reforming health services to better address stigma as a barrier to HCV and treatment.

Here I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to the Fixhepc community that (IMHO) compensates successfully the lack of trust the patients have towards their healthcare systems which denies the HCV treatment.

Cheers,
RHF

Thanks Rohcvfighter yes I agree about trust
I'm also thankful to the FHC for restoring my trust and to my new GP here near where I live. A bad experience was hard to recover from after I believed and got hurt before.
We are not doctors and we need to know that the practitioner is doing what is reasonable and in the best duty of care. This doesn't always happen as I am testament to. But here I have been cured, I have taken charge of my issues and health and have accessed information that's been invaluable. Bit by bit my confidence is restoring, and bit by bit the impact of poor duty of care previous to this is being fixed up.
A negative experience can definitely affect anyone
At FHC the medicines work, there is never a hopelessness like that which I knew before from the old tx, and here DAA relapsers are priority and so they should be, here a person can ask questions about any fears and others will help.
A GREAT article thanks I so relate to this about trust.
I also try to tell people about trusting the DAAs and that too can be challenging for them, we need to keep spreading good news for sure
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