Access to medicines is one of the key elements in ensuring the right to health. However, its high burden in health systems budgets, especially in low and middle-income countries, represents a challenge to be overcome1. One of the strategies meant to reduce the cost of medicines is the use of generics. Generics are defined as “(…) a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product (…)”a.The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends facilitating early market entry of generics and allowing substitution by dispensers to reduce medicine budgets and improve access to medicines2. Brazil is a country that recognizes the right to health, including access to medicines as a right of its citizens3. In 1998, the Brazilian National Medicines Policy promoted the use of generics by several strategies4. In 1999, Brazil published a generics law. Unless explicitly stated in a prescription, all medicines can be substituted by their generic version5.
FONTE: SCIELOSP
