TY - JOUR T1 - The generic-patent medicine conflict flares up again in The Netherlands JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 555 LP - 555 VL - 32 IS - 9 AU - D O E Gebhardt Y1 - 2006/09/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/32/9/555.1.abstract N2 - Recently I reported in this journal1 how it became necessary for a judge to settle a dispute between the pharmaceutical industry and certain Dutch pharmacists. It considered the question of whether a pharmacist is permitted, without prior consultation, to give a patient a (cheaper) generic drug instead of the patent drug mentioned on the prescription. Another dispute has now arisen after the pharmaceutical industry discovered that healthcare insurers were paying general practitioners (GPs) a bonus if they prescribed generic drugs, such as simvastatin (which reduces cholesterol content) or omeprazol (which reduces the … ER -