| Switching from branded medications to generic versions may save a good deal of money, in particular if you are starting on a drug for the first time. One the primary differences is the market price of brand name medicines and generics.
In 1984, generic medicines accounted for less than 19% of all prescriptions filled. Today, generic medicines represent more than 54% of all prescriptions available in the United States of America. Besides, even though generic medications account for more than half of prescriptions sold, they account for less than 16 cents of every dollar spent on prescription medicines. At present there are more than 7,800 generic versions of around 10,668 FDA-sanctioned pharmaceuticals.
A great many people question the effectiveness of generics, since they are often substantially cheaper than branded medications. They would like to know if the quality and potency have been changed to manufacture cheaper pharmaceuticals.
A 1990 study by FDA laboratories located around the USA reported that for those classes of prescription drugs that were very likely to cause safety or efficacy problems if they were not produced appropriately, the generic medication complied with the requirements in almost all cases. The classes of medicines tested included birth control drugs, antibiotics, and drugs prescribed for asthma, epilepsy, hypertension and abnormal heart rhythms. Of the 429 samples of the 24 various medicines tested, including both branded and generic drugs, there were no samples tested that posed a health threat to patients when examined for efficacy.
The reason that these 24 various medicines were picked out is that they all have a narrow therapeutic range. This means that in comparison with most kinds of drugs, for which there is a relatively vast range of dosages that are both potent and relatively safe, the amount of these drugs that gets into the body must be more strictly regulated. If it is not, the medication may too easily lose its efficacy (if the dose is too low) or get toxic (if the dose is too high).
The medications tested were 6 asthma medications, 4 medications for curing epilepsy, 4 hypertension medicines, 4 drugs for curing heart arrhythmias, a birth control pill, one antibiotic, a medication for curing depression, and the so-called blood-thinning medication. In six classes of medicines, both brand name and generic versions were examined. In the case of the birth control pill, all of the primary brand names, but no generic version, were examined.
For 23 of the 24 various medications, there was no difference between the branded and the generic versions in the FDA laboratory studies for purity or quality. |
