Generic medicines policies in the Asia Pacific region: ways forward

Abstract

Generic medicines are a key strategy used by governments and third‑party payers tocontain medicines costs and improve the access to essential medicines. This strategyrepresents an important opportunity provided by the global intellectual propertyregimes to discover and develop copies of original products marketed by innovatorcompanies once the patent protection term is over. While there is an extensive experienceregarding generic medicines policies in developed countries, this evidence may nottranslate to developing countries. The generic medicines policies workshop at theAsia Pacific Conference on National Medicines Policies 2012 provided an importantopportunity to discuss and document country‑specific initiatives for improving accessto and the rational of use of generic medicines in the Asia Pacific region. Based onthe identified barriers and enablers to implementation of generic medicines policiesin the region, a set of future action plans and recommendations has been made.