Where a prescriber specifies a particular branded product on the prescription, the registered pharmacist is required to dispense the product specified. The registered pharmacist cannot supply a different equivalent brand (i.e. generic drugs) without consulting the prescriber concerned.
After all, the pharmacy can only dispense generic drugs if the chemical name of the drug, or wording such as “generic substitution is allowed unless otherwise specified” or equivalence is written on the prescription.
Example:
- “Lipitor” is the name of the brand drug. The chemical name of the drug is “Atorvastatin”.
- If “Lipitor 10mg” is written on the prescription, pharmacy can only dispense the brand drug “Lipitor”.
- If “Atorvastatin 10mg” is written on the prescription, you can choose to dispense the generic drugs that contain the same ingredients.
- If “generic substitution is allowed unless otherwise specified” or equivalence is written on the prescription, you can decide which brand you want.