Nationwide cross-sectional survey for preferred brand-named oral anticancer drugs using prescription data based on a large chain of community pharmacies in Japan

The global cost of medications, including anticancer drugs, is rapidly increasing.However, the relationship between the pharmacological mechanisms of anticancer drugs and the percentage of patients who prefer brand-name drugs remains largely unexplored.This study aimed to assess the proportion of patients who chose brand-name drugs based on the type of oral anticancer drug prescribed and patient background factors that may influence generic drug use.We extracted data from patients who received oral anticancer drugs at a QOL pharmacy between April 1, 2019, and March 31, 2021.Patient characteristics included age, sex, percentage of health insurance co-payment percentage, presence of a home pharmacist, prescribing healthcare provider, and specific oral anticancer drug prescribed.A total of 17,746 patients with prescriptions for oral anticancer drugs that had generic alternatives were included in the study.Among them, 26.4 (n4,682) opted for brand-name drugs.Our results showed that molecularly targeted drugs had higher brand-name preference rates, with imatinib (73.5) and gefitinib (62.8) showing the highest selection rates.Furthermore, Patient characteristics such as sex, age, type of medical institution, and drug type influenced the decision to use brand-name drugs instead of generics.Our findings suggest that targeted educational strategies based on the pharmacologic mechanisms of drugs, rather than a onesize-fits-all approach to promoting generics, may be more effective in encouraging the use of generic anticancer drugs.