CASE REPORT   

Minerva Forensic Medicine 2021 June-September;141(2-3):42-50

DOI: 10.23736/S2784-8922.21.01807-0

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Prescription and use of some generic drugs in ophthalmology: possible legal and medico-legal implications

Giuseppe BASILE ¹ ✉, Giovanni BOLZONI ², Massimiliano GAMBERA ³, Alberto PASSERI ⁴, Giorgio DELLA CROCE ⁵, Federico AMADEI ⁵

¹ Legal Medicine Unit, San Siro Clinical Institute, Milan, Italy; ² Section of Ophthalmology, San Siro Clinical Institute, Milan, Italy; ³ Lawyer, Tribunal of Milan, Milan, Italy; ⁴ Private Practitioner, Monselice, Padua, Italy; ⁵ Private Practitioner, Milan, Italy; ⁶ COF Lanzo Hospital, Caslè, Como, Italy

Chronic open angle glaucoma (GCAA) is a highly disabling and widespread disease in the population, often misunderstood, which requires chronic therapies with consequent high costs for the Providing Institutions. Currently, in order to reduce treatment costs, there is a tendency to prescribe and take “generic” drugs, molecules for which patents have expired. The rationale for this lies in the absence of testing costs, so the drug - the so-called equivalent - can be placed on the market at better economic conditions than the original product. However, the use of these drugs can lead to negative effects both as regards the therapeutic results, and for the possible legal and medico-legal implications deriving from an incorrect information relationship between doctor and patient regarding the problems potentially related to their intake.

KEY WORDS: Pharmaceutical preparations; Glaucoma; Legislation and jurisprudence