Drugs produced around the world are the same ?

[John2038]

Where I am working (emerging country), a combo cost typically: ~ 40 euros / month (eg Sustiva + whatever -forgot)

Those drugs are produced by licensed companies locally.

Does "licensed" means that the drugs produced are exactly the same as anywhere else in the world ?

[aztecan]

Hey John,

I believe this means the company producing the medication is licensed by your government to produce said meds and meets whatever government standards that have been set.

Whether the medications produced are exactly the same as those produced elsewhere I can't say.

Perhaps Newt will know. He has a better handle on this type of thing than I do. He also is more familiar with the drugs approved/available in Europe.

HUGS,

Mark

[bear60]

A friend of mine who is a Senior Citizen and on fixed income, buys some of her meds online. I am not talking HIV meds but rather heart meds.  The warning that she always gets from her doc is something along the lines of: beware medications of questionable origin.  Well, some of what she orders is shipped here from Greece or whatever. Who knows what she is getting.  I think its a shame that US drug makers aren't encouraging and getting involved with more makers of drugs in foreign countries to produce high standard products.  Instead they fight the production of drugs in places like India. Shame.
modified for spelling

[404error]

That's because drug companies are more concerned with preserving their intellectual property rights (as well as profit margins) than they are with preserving the lives of those their drugs are meant to save.

[vokz]

I think John2038 is referring to the discounted generic drugs that international agreements and voluntary / compulsory licenses allow to be produced / distributed in certain developing countries.

These drugs - provided they are supplied through official channels - should to all intents and purposes be exactly the same as the branded drugs they are copies of (and in some cases actually are the same branded drugs manufactured to look different, so that they can’t be sold in developed countries).

In Africa, for example, there is a deal with some drug companies that allows generic drugs to be manufactured in South Africa and sold in all 47 sub-Saharan African countries at approximately 1/33rd of the cost of the branded drugs sold in the USA and EU (US$300/year vs. US$10,000/year).

Such generic drugs should not be confused with the substandard / ineffectual counterfeit drugs that you are likely to be sent if you buy from dubious online sources masquerading as pharmacies.