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Generic drug market has share of 12.5% out of total pharmaceutical market. Its share is increasing rapidly by up to 57%. People are choosing generic equivalent drugs over brand drugs to cut health care cost. Still, the very first question patient asks is, Are generic drugs safe enough? Am I compromising with my health by cutting cost? Answer to these questions is NO. To make it more clear you need to understand the concept of brand drugs and then generic drugs.
What is Brand Drugs?
Brand drug is the drug for which a company has acquired patent for. That being said, no other pharmaceutical companies can produce the drug with identical ingredients. In order to get patent for a drug pharmaceutical company has to pass through many processes like....
Pre launch processes
*Market research to identify which diseases is widely spread
*Examine current medication
Manufacture processes
*Hiring highly paid hundreds of scientists and qualified doctors for research
*Making experiments
*Conducting clinical trial
After Drug is ready to launch
*Rigorous FDA approval
*Patent process
*Proving that their formula is unique
*Marketing
These are all super expensive processes. In order to not only just recover the huge investment but also make some profit they set high price for that drug. Since they have made great effort for the formulation they protect the drugs by acquiring patent and thus enjoy monopoly. No other company can produce identical drug during patent period.
What Are Generic Drugs?
Pharmaceutical companies (other than original inventor) files application at FDA, when patent protection is about to end, to produce generic equivalent version of brand drugs. To be liable (and to be approved by FDA) the respective company has just to prove that generic drug has same and identical active ingredients (chemical compounds), effects, working mechanism, contradictions and side effects as that of brand drug during clinical trial. To put in nutshell generic drug has to have same pharmacology of brand drug. Thus producing generic drug is quite inexpensive as compare to brand drug. Resources and expense needed to produce generic drug is half (Sometimes less than half) of the brand drug. Generic producers, because of less expense generic drugs are always cheaper.
Since generic drug has same pharmacology, generic drug consumers are not going to compromising at any point.
Does that mean producing generic drug is easy? Not at all. Even generic drug producer has to go through vigorous approval process. FDA periodically monitors the manufacturing plants of manufacturing pharmaceutical companies to ensure the plant meets standards set by FDA itself (For that they have government officers). Pharmaceutical companies may face ban unless they follow the standards.
Why Generic Drugs?
*Like brand drugs, generic drugs are also being approved by FDA (A government body monitoring food & drug)
*They are cheap
*Has same effect
Lets summarize what this reading clarifies, by answering some of the questions being asked by patients.
Are generic drugs safe? Yes (As long as generic version is approved by FDA).
Does generic drug need to be specially prescribed? NO (Just ask your physician to prescribe generic drug)
Where to buy generic drugs? At any of your near drug stores or from online generic pharmacy.
How to know whether generic drugs are approved by FDA? Visit FDA site for list
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