People’s Perception and Acknowledgement on Subsidised Drugs and Its

Bioequivalence in Indonesia

Wanda Brillianty Putri, Wildhani Alfianna, Tri Wahyudi

Bachelor Degree Program, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Email: obit.wanda@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The state-owned companies manufacture government-subsidised medicines to provide affordable

drugs for the people. Subsidised medicine is supposed to be interchangeable with the innovator drug

and non-subsidised brands. Thus, National Agency of Food and Drug Control of Indonesia has issued

a bioequivalency regulation pushing all product to be bioequivalence to the innovator brand.

However, the perspective of patient to the drug efficacy is usually affected by price in the market. The

aim of this research is to examine the relationship between people’s perception and knowledge on the

efficacy of subsidised medicines with their bioequivalency certification. This research was conducted

by surveying 50 people with hypertension, diabetes, and/or hyperlipidemia, regardless their adherence

to the therapy. It is found that 63,2% respondents took subsidised drugs despite believing that prices

determine the quality. The result showed that 59.1% respondents believe that subsidized and non-

subsidized drugs have a different efficacy. Moreover, 23,7% respondents believe that subsidized

drugs cause more side effects. In addition, 74,2% of those who have been using non-subsidized drugs

do not agree to switch their medicine into a subsidized one. The result showed that people’s

perception and knowledge were not in line with the fact that there are subsidised-medicines certified

as bioequivalence in the market. One of the factors is drug prices. People can save their money up to

90% by consuming subsidised medicines. It can be concluded that there is a vital role of pharmacists

and other healthcare providers to educate people about the bioequivalency of subsidised and non-

subsidised drugs.

Keywords: Bioquivalence, Generic Drug, Subsidised Drug, Non-Subsidised Drug