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Branded and generic medications - Is there any difference? |
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| Date Added: January 06, 2010 02:25:42 AM | |
| Author: | |
| Category: Shopping: Health | |
Switching from branded medicines to generics may save a vast amount of money, in particular if you are starting on a medication for the first time. One the major differences is the retail price of branded and generic medicines. In 1984, generics accounted for less than 19% of all prescriptions filled. These days, generic drugs represent more than 54% of all prescriptions available in the United States. In addition, even though generic medicines account for more than half of prescriptions dispensed, they account for less than 16 cents of every dollar spent on prescription medicines. Now there are more than 7,800 generic versions of approximately 10,668 FDA-approved drugs and medicines. A lot of people doubt the efficacy of generics, because they are frequently considerably cheaper than branded medicines. They wonder if the quality and potency have been worsened to produce lower-cost pharmaceuticals. A 1990 study by FDA laboratories placed around the USA reported that for those categories of prescription drugs that were very likely to lead to safety or effectiveness problems if they were not produced appropriately, the generic drug complied with the requirements in nearly all cases. The categories of medications tested included contraceptives, antibiotics, and drugs prescribed for asthma, epilepsy, hypertension and abnormal heart rhythms. Of the 429 samples of the 24 different drugs examined, including both branded drugs and generics, there were no samples examined that posed a health threat to patients when examined for effectiveness. The main reason that these 24 various medications were chosen is that they all have a narrow therapeutic scope. This means that in comparison to most types of medications, for which there is a relatively big scope of dosages that are both efficient and relatively safe, the amount of these drugs that gets into the human body must be more tightly regulated. If it is not, the medication may too easily lose its efficacy (if the dose is too low) or become toxic (if the dosage is too high). The medicines tested were 6 asthma drugs, 4 medicines for treating epilepsy, 4 hypertension medications, 4 drugs for treating heart arrhythmias, a birth control pill, one antibiotic, a drug for treating depression, and the so-called blood-thinning medication. In 6 classes of medicines, both branded and generics were tested. In the case of the contraception, all of the main brand names, but no generic medication, were tested. For 23 of the 24 various medicines, there was no difference between the brand name and the generics in the FDA laboratory studies for purity or quality. |
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