A qualitative exploration of perceptions toward pharmaceutical price war among community pharmacists in the state of Penang, Malaysia:

The objective of this study was to evaluate perceptions of community pharmacists toward medicine pricing issues in the model of practice in Malaysia. A qualitative approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by face-to-face interview. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit a convenient sample of full-time community pharmacists practicing in the state of Penang, Malaysia. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed. A total of 11 community pharmacists were recruited in this study. Thematic content analysis of the interviews identified three main themes: factors causing pharmaceutical price war, potential impact of price war, and recommendations to overcome price war. In general, price war phenomenon has diminished the profit margin of community pharmacists and threatened their survival. Thus, the participants anticipated that government could control medicine price. The findings in this study also highlighted that the participants were di...