Boosting Their Generic Dosage

Brand loyalty looks increasingly anemic in the prescription-drug sector. Comparison of a pair of Harris Polls — one released last week and one conducted in October 2006 — makes this clear. Each survey asked people who buy prescription drugs to say how often (if they had a choice in the matter) they’d prefer a brand-name drug to the generic alternative, or vice versa. In the new survey (fielded in December), 40 percent said they’d “always” choose the generic — up from 23 percent saying so in the 2006 poll.