PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Health takes baseless and irresponsible statements seriously and will not hesitate to take action against certain parties who claim that generic medicines could harm patients.

In a statement on Friday (Nov 8), the ministry said such statements raise concerns among patients, whether in ministry facilities or private healthcare, and encourage them to reject treatment regimens.

“The Ministry of Health will not hesitate to take firm action, including legal measures, against those responsible,” he said.

He was responding to a report by an online portal on November 5, which cited a statement by a pharmaceutical association stating that the use of generic medicines can be harmful to patients.

The ministry has emphasized that generic medicines are safe to use, effective and have optimal results based on comprehensive assessments by qualified health professionals on patients’ clinical needs.

He further said that he would never compromise on the quality, safety and health of patients to reduce the costs of treatment, including medicines.

The ministry said the National Medicines Policy developed in 2006 is part of the government’s efforts to ensure Malaysians have access to essential medicines.

“One of the key strategies of this policy is the Generic Medicines Policy, which encourages the use of generic medicines in the public and private healthcare sector. The objective is to strengthen access to affordable medicines while maintaining their quality, safety and effectiveness. ” reads the statement.

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On October 28, sources cited by the portal alleged that the government had ordered the National Heart Institute (IJN) to replace innovative drugs with generic drugs for public patients to reduce costs borne by the ministry.

Generic drugs refer to drugs that contain the same active ingredients as innovator drugs and are produced after the patent of the innovator drug expires.

Innovative medicines are new medicines introduced and patented for the first time by the company that developed or discovered them after conducting clinical trials and research.

According to the ministry, all medicines, including generics, must undergo strict requirements and evaluations before being registered with the Medicines Control Authority (DCA) of Malaysia to ensure their quality, safety and effectiveness.

He said generic drugs are cheaper than innovator drugs as they do not incur the initial research and development costs, marketing expenses and promotion costs associated with innovator drugs, although there are costs for conducting bioequivalence assessment.

“A large-scale study in Austria, involving more than nine million people, found that the use of generic drugs helps reduce healthcare costs without compromising patient health in the treatment of chronic diseases such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol) and diabetes.”

“The study also found that generic drugs are as effective as innovative drugs in preventing serious heart problems and death,” he added. – Bernama