This is a good point, and it is probably true in many cases.
In those cases, though, the patients should go private. I would imagine that having to fork out the difference themselves would go a long way towards negating the placebo effect.

edit: to bring up sildenafil again, it's only allowed to be prescribed on the NHS under certain circumstances. A lot of patients saw their GP and had it prescribed privately. Since it came off patent, I haven't seen a private prescription for Viagra. Everyone's getting the generic and paying a lot less for it.
(Plague Hedgehog 'posting crap', Wed 25 Jun 2014, 20:04, 1 reply)

Fair enough,
I think it is completely appropriate for the NHS to prescribe the generics (except in such circumstances as you already outlined), freeing up cash for people with conditions for which a placebo isn't gonna do anything. There is nothing stopping a patient from forking out for the brand if they so desire.
(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Wed 25 Jun 2014, 20:38, closed)

Yeah, that's the thing really.
I'm completely in favour of the NHS principle of being free at the point of use, but the (possibly inevitable) downside of that is that a lot of people simply don't appreciate what they're getting, and think it is their right to demand more than other people get. But that's nothing to do with the NHS, it's just human nature.

In summary, we're all cunts.
(Plague Hedgehog 'posting crap', Wed 25 Jun 2014, 20:49, closed)

To be fair, the cunts need edumacation
As a pharmacist you're used to describing drugs by their generic name, but a lot of punters don't realise that Nurofen / ibuprofen, Ventolin / salbutamol and sildenafil / Viagra are identical and think they're being fobbed off with an inferior product.

The patent holders are too good at marketing and he medical profession not god enough at explaining.
( Snappyuk gets BIGGER with free sample., Thu 26 Jun 2014, 8:19, closed)

Absolutely.
The pharmacy profession has made great strides in recent years to be more patient-centric, with (I think) some success.

I would slightly disagree about punters' understanding - as I just mentioned up there, in my experience most people who get regular prescription medication understand and are fine with it. The generic name is what's on the prescription, their repeat prescription request form and the pharmacy label.

But yes, medical professions (all of them) still have a long way to go to explain things adequately to patients. And thank fuck it's still illegal (in this country, anyway) for drug companies to advertise prescription-only drugs directly to the public. Although they've been pushing at the edges of that bit of legislation whenever they can ("does your willy not work? Speak to your GP. THIS IMPARTIAL HEALTH INFORMATION MESSAGE BROUGHT TO YOU BY LILLY, WHO MAKE CIALIS").
(Plague Hedgehog 'posting crap', Thu 26 Jun 2014, 19:45, closed)