Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is wrong to disagree with me. For example, medicine A, manufactured by White Pharmaceuticals, is used to treat a heart condition. After this legislation goes through, the decision will be taken by the Irish Medicines Board that the same medicine manufactured by Naughten Pharmaceuticals is 50% cheaper. The elderly person who has been taking the medicine manufactured by White Pharmaceuticals for six years knows that this medicine is his or her heart medicine to treat an irregular heart beat or a cholesterol problem. Now all of a sudden, he or she will go to the pharmacist and receive a number of replacement medicines. The pharmacist will explain that he or she will not give the patient the traditional medicine manufactured by White Pharmaceuticals because it is too expensive and will instead give the medicine produced by Naughten Pharmaceuticals. The elderly person will go home and a week or fortnight later will go through his or her medicines and wonder what a particular tablet manufactured by Naughten Pharmaceuticals is for. He or she will have to work out, by a process of elimination, what the new tablet is for, go back through the other 14 or 15 medicines and say, "Well that one must be for my heart condition." That is where the difficulty lies. The Minister of State is right. In saying a medicine is used to treat a heart condition, one has a level of consistency. Regardless of what generic medicine one is taking, one knows it is to treat one's heart condition, regardless of whether it is produced by Kelleher Pharmaceuticals, Ó Caoláin Pharmaceuticals or White Pharmaceuticals. It makes no difference because one knows it is one's heart medicine. That is the one issue that will arise with generic substitution. There will be a difficulty in respect of compliance. The amendment would assist in dealing with that compliance issue, clarifying the position and ensuring people knew exactly what a medicine was for.

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