INTRODUCTION: Patient preferences for branded and generic drugs have been the subject of extensive research; however, few studies focused on patients suffering from severe illnesses like coronary heart disease (CHD). We did not find studies that measured the preference weights of different classes’ brands using the discrete choice experiment methodology.

OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study was to measure the patients’ preferences for their generic and branded CHD drugs at Alexandria Health Insurance Clinic, Alexandria, Egypt.

METHODS: The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research good research practices and other recommendations were used to conduct a discrete-choice experiment. Egyptian Patients with CHD completed an interviewer-led survey that elicited choices between treatment pairs among the following brands: Aspirin, Beta-blockers, Statins, and Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone-System (RAAS) blockers at two possible levels each. Preference estimates were obtained using mixed logit estimation to calculate choice probabilities.

RESULTS: A total of 208 patients completed the survey. Only 59 patients (28%) were fully satisfied with their generic CHD drugs. Most of the patients showed brand inclinations in six out of nine classes of drugs, mostly due to insufficient effectiveness. Patients showed the highest preference toward branded RAAS blocker (mean 0.512; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.428 to 0.596) followed by preference toward Beta-blocker (mean 0.167; 95%CI: 0.088 to 0.246). CONCLUSION: We found a statistically significant preference toward branded drugs for CHD, mainly RAAS and Beta-blockers. Further research is needed to investigate the causes behind these inclinations.