Generic drugs hardly need any preface to be introduced to broad public: they are a thoroughly popular phenomenon in modern pharmacology. Their high quality has been proven in practice by a vast number of patients, and their affordability is a major selling factor. However, there is also a great deal of generic meds slamming going on, which certainly needs to be investigated closer. Today Canadian Health&Care Mall www.canadahealthcaremall.com will help you better understand if generics are friend or foe, as well as tip you on how to navigate generic pharmaceuticals with maximal avail for both your health and your budget.
According to the industry’s statistics as analysed by Generic Pharmaceutical Association, the shift from branded drugs in favor of generics helped saving whooping $3 billion per week for the US patients in 20011. These figures amounted to $158 billion of industry’s savings by the end of the year. Now, there is some food for thought.
Generic drugs hardly need any preface to be introduced to broad public: they are a thoroughly popular phenomenon in modern pharmacology. Their high quality has been proven in practice by a vast number of patients, and their affordability is a major selling factor. However, there is also a great deal of generic meds slamming going on, which certainly needs to be investigated closer. Today Canadian Health&Care Mall will help you better understand if generics are friend or foe, as well as tip you on how to navigate generic pharmaceuticals with maximal avail for both your health and your budget.
The benefits of buying Generic Drugs
While the quality of generic drugs alone is enough to elevate, it is their attractive price that takes the entire experience to a new level. Over the entire history of intellectual property, branding and patenting, generics have become a definition of inexpensive and versatile medicating.
And while the ethical aspects of generic drug production is known to have caused some controversy, for rank-and-file customers out there incorporating generics into a therapy course brings substantial benefits. For starters, they help you forego the exuberant cost of brand meds in favor of generics, which are brand drugs’ full analogues in everything that concerns quality, efficacy and safety.
In addition to what you can generate in healthcare savings, you can go for the diversity of types most generic medicines have to offer. This brings an advantage of an added customization, and switching effortlessly from costly and rigid to inexpensive and flexible pharmaceutical routine. Just think that, for instance, generic Viagra in Canadian Pharmacy is available in more than a dozen of generic forms with varying dosage, coating and flavor.
To sum it up, buying generic drugs has two major advantages:
Lower price
Some generics are sold for as little as 1/10th of the brand drug’s cost
More diversity
For ultimate customization of your therapy
Logically then, with its chemical content being the same, the effects of generic drugs yield repeat those of brand solutions down to the letter. The same goes for the safety of generic medications, which is a subject to a close supervision by the industry’s regulating authorities. Before a generic drug production receives an approval, its safety will be studied with all due care. Taking instructions for generic tablets will either not be any different from the guidelines you can see inside brand drug’s package.
You may also observe that your prescription contains generic name of the required medication rather than any brand title. This is done in order for you to choose a drug within your budgetary range and based on your personal preferences, since the manufacturer name stated on package will not in the least affect therapeutic qualities of your preparation. Alternatively, pharmacists are entitled to substitute brand drugs stated in your prescription with a generic one. This is yet another point in favor of generic drugs eligibility.
What’s different then?
Generic drugs cannot be sold under the names of their brand counterparts. Instead, generic name will be used. Such names are given at the developing stage; they are chosen based on the drug’s class, purpose and mechanism of action with the help of standardized affixes that help to recognize preparation’s action. Internationally accepted nomenclature rules apply here.
Brand name and appearance are considered intellectual property and as such are protected by copyright laws, which are regulated by a different set of rules than those governing the laws of patenting.
Market competition increases multifold when generic drugs appear on stage. This normally brings general decrease in drug’s cost, but the price gap between brand and generic is normally maintained. In certain cases though the original developer cannot afford any significant decrease in price, since they need to keep on making as much money for current and future investment in researches.
As you can see, there are not many differences between generics and brand pills, and none of them concerns medicinal qualities or performance characteristics.
It’s good to know
In order to further diffuse those concerns for generic drugs’ validity that many may still have, let’s touch upon how’s and why’s of generic drug production and positioning. The thing that needs to be said upfront is that, contrarily to an existing belief, generic drugs are subject to regulation of FDA and analogous institutions in countries of their origin.
The point has already been made that generics cost so much less than the branded pills. Intuitively, most of shoppers tend to believe that lower price means poorer quality. This is not at all true for the phenomenon of generic which is regulated by the set of intellectual property rules rather than linked to conventional relation between price and quality. Let us explain. For as long as a drug holds its patent, any copying and reproducing thereof would be considered patent infringement. While a brand medicine is protected by patent, its manufacturer has no competition, which is the main factor that affects its shelf price. However, this is not the only factor conditioning the high cost of brand medicines.
Original developers incur much higher expenditures associated with drug developing and testing phases. Add to the picture advertising costs. Also, in order to secure another 5 years of patent protection, some developers invest in pediatric population researches, which grants additional perks from the industry’s regulators.
The rule of thumb for buying quality generics is shopping with reliable retailers
Avoid murky deals when your health is at stake. Preferably, consult healthcare platforms and expert reviews before buying from a new pharmacy. And while you cannot accurately evaluate a product based on looks or description, you can be sure that a trusted retailer will provide you with adequate quality healthcare items.
The bottom line is, paying extra for a trusted brand name is a matter of personal choice. But if you need to be frugal, buying generic medicines should be as safe as opting for a pack of milk produced by a different dairy factory.
