OBJECTIVES: The Spanish antidepressant market is the 7th market in volume in Spain, and represented 475 million Euros in 2010. As a measure to contain pharmaceutical expenditure and promote rational drug use, the Spanish Autonomous Regions (AR) have implemented, among other policies, prescription quality indicators for generics (PQIG). The objective of this study was to analyze the generic antidepressant market in those AR with and without PQIG and to assess whether the AR with PQIG have higher generic sales than those without indicators. METHODS: We identified the AR with PQIG, through their health services web pages. We obtained the sales of branded and generic antidepressants (SSRIs, NSMRIs, MAOIs and other antidepressants) in volume (units) for each AR for the period 2007-2010 – data obtained from IMS Health® Regional database. Sales were adjusted per one million population – data obtained from National Statistics Institute. From these data, we estimated generic prescription and compared growth for the period 2007-2010. RESULTS: Nine out of the 17 AR have PQIG (Andalusia, Balearic Islands, Catalonia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla-León, Madrid, Basque Country, La Rioja and Valencia). Generic prescription increased 8 points from 2007 to 2010, both groups having similar growth (8 and 7 points in the PQIG and non-PQIG group, respectively). In 2007, the mean generic prescription in the AR with PQIG was the 14%, whereas in the non-PQIG group was 10%. In 2010, it was 22% in the AR with PQIG and 17% in the non-PQIG ones. Andalusia and Catalonia were the AR with the highest percentage (38% and 28%, respectively) and Murcia and Country Basque were the lowest (11% and 14%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The PQIG had an overall positive impact in generic prescription, although other factors, such as PQIG implementation approach may influence the real impact of indicators in sales.