Article · Volume 12, Issue 2 · pp. 169–172

Assessment of Knowledge and Perception of Biological Medicines among Undergraduate Pharmacy Students in North India: A Multi-centric Study

Zeenat Iqbal¹, Mohd. Aamir Mirza¹, Mohammad Daud Ali²

¹Department of Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research(SPER), Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, INDIA.
²Department of Pharmacy, Mohammed Al-Mana College for Medical Sciences, Abdulrazaq Bin Hammam Street, As Safa, Dammam, SAUDI ARABIA.

Abstract

Objectives: In the current study, we have evaluated pharmacy undergraduate student’s knowledge and perceptions towards this class of drug products.Methods: A random survey of 349 pharmacy students of six different pharmacy colleges from north India was carried out on an online-based questionnaire system to investigative knowledge and attitude towards biological/biosimilar. Chi-square test was used for the computation of p-value.Results: Out of 349 students, 80.22% of students have good knowledge about the same. 44.12% responded that the products are generally safe while 60.74% responded that these products don’t produce any kind of adverse drug reaction. 62.18% students were not updated about ADR reporting system in India. But the students think that its knowledge is important but the educational training has been inadequate.Conclusion: Due to unawareness about biological products, there is a need to address the knowledge gap in graduating pharmacy students. Lack of knowledge could be overcome by upgrading the curriculum or through professional development courses.

Keywords: ADR (Adverse Drug reaction); Biosimilars; Perception; Pharmacy student

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