In the olden days, it is the brand of medicine that we know like Bayer for aspirin or Medicol for paracetamol. But some 2 decades ago, the generic bill became a law that allows small drug laboratories to compete with the big ones by changing the labels in the packaging of their medical products. Now here is the question. Is the generic drug as effective as the branded? The cost of generic is about 50% less than the branded.
In a word yes they are. I used to work years ago as a Lab technician for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, and also one of.. if not the most expensive...and I can assure you that generic medicines are just as effective as any branded medication. The FDA is strict about all generic medication having the same ingredients, ;purity, strength and quality control . Overall, the only difference apart from the expensive packaging in branded medication is that generic medication needn't have the inactive ingredients that are often included in branded products. All the generic drugs were made alongside the branded products at the drug manufacturing company where I worked and were tested and controlled in exactly the same way as the branded.
Hmmmm.... this isn't as easy to answer as I'd like it to be. But I have reasons. First of all, my dearest friend is a physician and I "hear stuff." Bottom line, many meds are comparable/same as branded.... but some are not. Some have not-so-healthy fillers that while the medication itself might be be the same, the bottom-line quality isn't. I've tried OTC stuff that was generic, like for colds and allergies, and it simply did not give the same relief although it was "supposed to" be the same. Most recently was WalMart "Nyquil" vs. the real stuff. The worst though... we have a diabetic cat. The insulin is the same stuff humans use... and about a year ago, the pharmacy told us that there's a less expensive insulin that's "the same" as what we'd been buying. To save quite a bit of money, we trusted that. And real soon, there was a relapse of symptoms that had been gone for years. Did the vet thing, thinking it was just coincidence, but the vet went ballistic (well not really, but was quite upset) that we were told that when the generic insulin was NOT necessarily the same, and when people switch to the cheaper stuff (humans or pets) the dosage has to be adjusted. Pharmacy never even mentioned that. Thank goodness the vet stepped in and the pharmacy got quite the lecture... threw that junk out, bought the good stuff, and in three days, the symptoms were once again under control. So... well, that's not really an answer for you, is it, @Corie Henson ? Sorry! I personally will use the generics each time, but not without being certain that it *is* comparable (per my doc, not the pharmacist) and that it doesn't have added fillers (not sure of the correct term... I mean things like higher sugar and sodium for some of the liquid meds) that could be harmful.
@Mari North thank you for that, your experience seemed to have said it all. In all honesty, I had never trusted the generic brand although there are times that I buy that for the over-the-counter medicines like paracetamol. For other medications like my maintenance for high blood pressure, I go for branded and I don't mind the cost. Likewise, we also purchase branded medicines for my mother who had a stroke 5 years ago and is wheelchair bound. I'm amused of that diabetic cat. How did you discover that it is diabetic?
It's a pretty common problem with cats, @Corie Henson ... it's detected the same way humans know, drinking a lot and too many trips to the litter box. Then the vet checks the numbers right like humans get tested. (Only not by the vet.. I hope!)
Cats are alien to me so I really don't know that. But with dogs, I haven't heard of such an affliction. The most common with dogs is kidney problem due to the salty food that they relish. That's why we are very careful in feeding our dogs and we see to it that their food has no flavoring except tomatoes. Salt is a no-no. But maybe we should also take note of diabetes because dogs have the natural sweet tooth. They love candies although we do not give them that.
I was in Bonaire on a driving holiday and was surprised to see most other people were doctors so we got talking they said that one of the top drug companies were giving a seminar on an upcoming drug and a review of other drugs. I sad well we have been driving most of the day when do you have the seminar. He told me that it is in the evening well that evening I was in the bar and they were all there. That is when the first Iraq war was going on and they were all watching the TV. Probably if they were recommending the genetic drugs they would not be invited to that seminar.
So far the generic prescriptions I have taken have worked just fine for me and our budget. I try generic in products as well as my prescriptions and have found that in some cases I actually prefer the generic.