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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Colin MillardORCiD, Professor Allyson PollockORCiD, Dr Petra SevcikovaORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Background: The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of market competition in contributing to the availability and rational use of six essential medicines in private retail outlets in Maharashtra state. The study focuses on the range of brands for each medicine, and the availability of these brands in the pharmacies. The medicines were chosen because they are included in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) essential medicines list (EML) and are also on the Indian national and Maharashtra state, and are all included in existing Indian public health initiatives and national disease control programmes. Methods: Data was gathered on the availability of the medicines and the range and frequency of brands in 124 private retail pharmacies. As there is currently no centralised database in India of available pharmaceutical brands, we collected data on the range of products of the 6 essential medicines available in the Indian market by consulting three open access Indian pharmaceutical databases, CIMS India, Medindia, and Medguide, and the commercial database, Pharmatrac; we compared this data with the results of the survey. The six essential medicines used in this study are: artemisinin (malaria), lamivudine (HIV/AIDS), rifampicin (TB control), oxytocin (reproductive health), fluoxetine (mental health) and metformin (diabetes). Results: The study found that for each of the selected medicines there were 2186 approved products on the Indian market, but few of these brands were available in the study pharmacies. Metformin was the only medicine with high availability in the study pharmacies at 91%, Rifampacin was the second highest at 64.5%; the other four medicines were available in less than half the pharmacies. A small number of brands were dominating the market. Conclusion: the survey shows that market competition has generated a large number of brands of the six study medicines but this has not translated into sufficient availability of these medicines in the study pharmacies. The present system does not accord with rational medicine use. The data calls for a review of available brands, taking into consideration levels of sale and grounds for approval, and the setting up of a centralised database of pharmaceutical products.
Author(s): Millard C, Kadam A, Mahajan R, Pollock AM, Brhlikova P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Global Health
Year: 2018
Volume: 8
Issue: 1
Print publication date: 29/06/2018
Online publication date: 23/01/2018
Acceptance date: 27/09/2017
Date deposited: 20/07/2018
ISSN (print): 2047-2978
ISSN (electronic): 2047-2986
Publisher: Edinburgh University Global Health Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.08.010402
DOI: 10.7189/jogh.08.010402
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