A political economy perspective: why pharmacists may be reluctant to dispense generic medications

As pressures mount for the government to intercede in the pricing structure of pharmaceutical products, some pharmacists remain reluctant to dispense generic counterparts for branded drugs. This paper attempts to explain this reticence by identifying the sources of conflict present in the pharmaceutical distribution channel. A political economy framework is applied to the pharmaceutical distribution channel to yield a basis for developing relationship management. This approach extends the pharmacist's substitution decision process from a traditional emphasis on product attributes to the complexity of the health care channel relationship itself. Relationship management offers several insights regarding how to reduce the conflict that inherently accompanies the generic substitution decision.