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Generic Drugs or Brand-Name
Drugs - An Eternal Dilemma
Nearly half of the medical
prescriptions in are that of generic drugs. Yet, there has
been a considerable amount of debate relating to the safety...
Date : February 01, 2006
Nearly half of the medical prescriptions
are that of generic drugs. Yet, there has been a considerable
amount of debate relating to the safety and reliability on
generic drugs vis-à-vis the brand-name drugs.
Before going into the merits of the debate,
it is pertinent to know a little about generic drugs. When
a pharmaceutical company invents a drug that company is the
only one allowed to make that drug in the same country for
a certain number of years. After this time period, other companies
are allowed to make the same drug. These drugs are called
generic drugs. The original drug is called a brand name drug.
Actually, a generic drug is a copy of brand-name drug that
has exactly the same strength, dosage, effects, side effects
etc. as the original drug. Its pharmacological effects are
exactly the same as those of its brand-name counterparts.
A very good example of generic drug is sildenafil
citrate which is better known by its brand-name Viagra.
The confusion in the minds of people is regarding
the cost of generic drugs. They are usually much cheaper than
their brand-name counterparts immediately raising the suspicion
regarding their quality, safety and effectiveness.
Price Factor
Generics drugs can be legally produced under the following
circumstances
- where the patent of the brand company has expired,
- where the generic drug company proves that the brand
companies' patent is either invalid, unenforceable or will
not be infringed,
- if the drugs are not patented, or
- In countries where such patent is not in force.
The main reason for the reduced cost of generic
drugs is that these are manufactured by smaller pharmaceutical
companies which cannot invest in research and development
into new drugs. The significant research and development costs
incurred by the large pharmaceutical companies in bringing
a new drug to the market is often cited as the reason for
the high cost of new agents - they wish to recover these costs
before the patent expires. Generic manufacturers do not incur
these costs and are able to charge significantly less than
the brand.
Safety and Effectiveness
The standards require that generic
drugs should be as safe and effective as brand-name drugs.
Tge same standards for applied to all drug manufacturing facilities,
and many companies manufacture both brand-name and generic
drugs. So there's no truth in the reports that generic drugs
are manufactured in poor-quality facilities or are inferior
in quality to brand-name drugs.
Another common misbelieve is that generic
drugs take longer to work. The guidelines require that generic
drugs work in the same way and in the same amount of time
as brand-name drugs.
Physical Features
The trademark laws do not allow a generic drug to look exactly
like the brand-name drug. However, a generic drug must have
the same active ingredients to ensure the same efficacy of
the drug. Colors, flavors, and certain other inactive ingredients
may be different to satisfy the trademark laws.
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