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Generic drugs will cost you less than branded versions |
| Date Added: March 01, 2010 04:57:20 PM |
| Author: anvgelica19 |
| Category: Health: Medicine |
| According to the U.S. Food and Drug administration (FDA), to gain FDA approval, a generic medicine must: contain the same active ingredients as the original medication (inactive ingredients may differ), be bioequivalent in efficacy, dosage form and route of administration; comply with the same batch requirements for identity, strength, quality and purity; be made under the same established standards of FDA's Good Manufacturing Practice regulations compulsory for trade name drugs and medicines. In other words, their pharmacological effects are exactly the same as those of their brand name versions. Although generic medications are chemically bioequivalent to their brand name counterparts, they are typically sold at considerable discounts from the trade name price. According to the Congressional Budget Office, generics save customers an estimated $8 to $10 billion a year at retail pharmacies. Even much more cash is saved when hospitals use generic medicines. The chief reason for the relatively low price of generics is that competition escalates among manufacturers when medications no longer are protected by patents. Firms incur fewer costs in creating a generic medication, and are, thus, able to sustain profitability at a lower cost to customers. The costs of these generic drugs are so low that many developing countries can easily afford them. For instance, Thailand is going to purchase millions of doses of the generic version of Plavix, a blood-thinning treatment to prevent heart attacks, at a cost of 3 US cents per dose from India, the leading producer of generic drugs. Makers of generic medications do not need to spend money on discovering a medicine, and instead are able to reverse engineer known medication compounds to allow them to make bioequivalent versions. Manufacturers do not bear the burden of proving the safety and efficacy of the medicines through clinical tests, since these studies have already been conducted by the branded firm. Generic medicines may sometimes be molded differently than trade name versions, such as a generic tablet versus a brand name capsule. Nevertheless, they have the same active ingredients and are manufactured under the same standards as brand name drugs. |
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