Brand Name Medicines and Generic Medications - What is the Difference ?

The question often arises when treating an illness is a “generic” medication as good as a name brand medication? Is it better to pay more for the real coke so to say or is the drugstore brand just the same – when it comes to treating your illness.

Definitely it can be argued either way. When you are getting the same chemical as the brand name drug it may not all be the same. The majority of any medication that you purchase or are prescribed – be it pill, tablet, liquid or inhaler is not the drug itself – it is the other agents – the binders are fillers, the propellants or whatever it may be. The brand name of the drug – say as in the coke example is the Coca Cola product manufactured by the Cola Cola Company itself or one of its registered agents or licensees who manufacture the product under strict manufacturing and process standards.

You know you are getting the real coke when you purchase that specific product.

On the other hand generic medications use the same active chemical in their product.

It’s as if you purchased a Cola drink – made by another company. Its all just sugar water you might reason. It may be similar, very similar but the product may not be exactly the same or is portrayed as such. Generic drugs are similar in nature. They are copies, even close copies. They may be similar in ingredients. However they cannot and are not exactly the same. However in the case of generic drugs there is strict control on the product and its standards. This is both done by the manufacturing and distributors themselves and by tested and ensured by the F.D.A. (The U.S. Government Food and Drug Administration) to ensure that label claims are as stated and product quality and consistency is standardized (that is stays the same) and is consistent.

This in the end begs the question “Are Generic medications and drugs good enough?” It can be said that “brand name “ drugs are expensive because of all the research and research costs involved that have to be recouped ,and that at a given point many of the newer drugs currently being sold and promoted by brand name pharmaceutical companies are still under patent protections. When the drug does come off of patent then any of a number of different drug houses can now make and market these products. At this point in time in 2009, many of the major medications that were previously referred to as ‘blockbuster “brands and lines of pharmaceutical products are soon to off the exclusive lists and will soon join the lists of products that were will now be available as generic drugs, whereas previously they were only available to patients and doctors as brand name drugs only available from a given or few manufacturers. Of these products.

The push is on by insurers and government health plans to use more and more of these generic drugs to reduce costs at their and your end and as a direct cost savings to health care costs overall. In many states, even if your doctor’s prescription says the brand name drug product, your pharmacist will likely “substitute” the generic brand that he has on hand, almost automatically without question. The pharmacist even is under some state or professional rules, standards or laws that automatically provide for a substituting of drug products for the generic brand almost automatically. At the worst, or the best, you may be asked permission to do the change or the swap, with the explanation that it’s “just another manufacturer” or maker of the medication or that there is a cost saving. In some states the actual brand name medication product may be dispensed if the doctor specifically writes on the prescription specifying the “brand name drug only “ or uses such instructions as “do not substitute “ or perhaps “dispense as written”. The rules are often that in such situations , if it’s a standard run of the mill treatment , as opposed to very stringent and difficult treatment cases , that the patient themselves will be asked to fork over the difference in terms of cost.

In the end the choice of a generic compared to a brand name drug is not a huge difference for most people and patients. The drug products are tested and quality assured. It is something though to note in your treatment and be made aware of. Simple as that.