Frequency of Unofficial Drug (Out-of-Drug List) Prescription by Physicians, Zanjan-2005

A number of drugs available in Iran's drug market do not appear on official drug list of the country. However, they are prescribed by physicians for various reasons. Although the trade of these drugs is illegal, they are widely sold at different prices, without warranty for genuineness and production date. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine the frequency of widely-prescribed unofficial drugs in Zanjan province in 2005. This descriptive study was carried out in 26 pharmacies selected through convenient sampling. Data collecting tool was the information form through which the data completed by the pharmacies was followed-up every two week for 6 months. The collected data was classified and analysed through descriptive statistics. Out of 1894 recorded drug articles by pharmacies fefol was the most frequent with 643 cases (33.94%) and the other drugs in descending order were osteocare with 170 cases (8.97%) ketrel with 141 cases (7.44%) glucosamine/ chondroitine/ MSM compounds with 132 cases (6.97%) and tres orix with 112 cases (5.91%). Based on research results out-of-list drugs fell into three categories. The first category was drugs with similar domestic versions and without proven superiority over domestic drugs (e.g: fefol, osteocare). The second category was drugs without similar domestic versions or with distinct superiority over domestic drugs (e.g: glucosamine, chondroitine), and the third category contained the drugs without particular superiority over domestic drugs (e.g MIM drop, kidicare). Thus, it is recommended that clinical efficacy of foreign samples be compared with domestic ones and be added to official drug list of the country in case of appropriateness.