Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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763. To ask the Minister for Health if he will introduce a protocol for the use of generic prescriptions here similar to that applied by the National Health Service in the UK which results in approximately 70% of all prescriptions being for generic medicines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8235/14]

Alex White (Dublin South, Labour)
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Under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Troika, Ireland committed to increasing the share of generic drug usage in the medium-term. In Quarter 3 2013 generic products accounted for 55% of the total off-patent market by volume. My Department has set a target of achieving 70% generic penetration of the off-patent market by volume by 2016.

A number of enabling measures are being implemented to achieve this target, in particular, the introduction of generic substitution and reference pricing under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013. In addition, it is intended to amend the relevant regulations to provide for the mandatory inclusion of the International Non-Proprietary Name (INN) on all prescriptions.