The United States spends more per person on health care and prescription drugs than any other country. A new study examined whether a practice called therapeutic substitution could reduce those costs.
While generic substitution is substitution of the same drug, therapeutic substitution is the use of a similar but not the same drug within a drug class.
Researchers from the Ohio State University reviewed records of more than 107,000 patients between 2010 and 2012 and looked at their prescription drug use and estimated how much money could be saved using therapeutic substitution.
The authors report that an extra $73 billion was spent between 2010 and 2012 on brand name medications. Therapeutic substitution could help lower those costs. He says among his successes are affordable alternatives to treat Lyme disease, high cholesterol, acid reflux, and ear infections.
But he emphasizes, that therapeutic substitution does require a doctor’s authorization.