RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-BLIND COMPARISON OF BRAND AND GENERIC ANTIBIOTIC SUSPENSIONS .2. A STUDY OF TASTE AND COMPLIANCE IN CHILDREN

Background. The taste of oral liquid medications influences compliance in children, Generic preparations are prescribed to reduce cost and m ay taste worse than brand name products, Methods. This was a prospecti ve, randomized, double blind, crossover trial of the differences in ta ste and compliance between brand and generic antibiotic suspensions in children 3 to 14 years of age, Verbal and visual assessment methods w ere used to assess taste, and compliance was measured by the amount of drug returned after use. Results. Ten children in each of the cephale xin and erythromycin-sulfisoxazole groups did not report that the bran d and generic formulations tasted differently, Fifteen children though t that brand trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole tasted better than the gene ric preparation. Conclusions. Brand name oral liquid antibiotics do no t necessarily taste better than their generic counterparts. Despite pr eference for the taste of brand trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, all of the children in this study were compliant with both brand and generic medications.