Diference between generic and other cllases of drugs?

[SASA39]

What does it mean when 'they" say that a particulary drug would be manufactured  in generic way ( from now on......) . What are the benefits of that kind of manufacturing?
                    Al

[Central79]

It just means that the drug is now off-patent, and that anybody is free to manufacture it. So it becomes known by it's generic name, rather than the tradename it was originally patented under.

The ingredients and active drug are the same. It's just cheaper.

[J.R.E.]

It just means that the drug is now off-patent, and that anybody is free to manufacture it. So it becomes known by it's generic name, rather than the tradename it was originally patented under.

The ingredients and active drug are the same. It's just cheaper.

For example,


I was paying $50.00 a month for Zocor. Zocor is used to help control cholesterol. When It went off patent, I could then  purchase the generic for $10.00 a month. Thats quite a savings .


Ray

[izprince1984]

Generic drugs are ones where the original manufacturer has lost their patent and anyone is free to make it.

The FDA requires that generic drugs be just as effective as the brand name counterpart.

A lot of big, unethical pharmaceutical companies play around with the ignorance of the average person and change the drug around a little, call it something else, then go back to being the only one that can make it.

For example, Eli Lilly lost the patent on Zovirax, a medicine to control Herpes outbreaks, so they formulated it a little differently and called it Valtrex.

The difference between Valtrex and Zovirax is that you take Valtrex once per day and Zovirax twice a day, otherwise they're both just as effective.

Zovirax has a generic, called Acyclovir.

The prices without insurance for a month's supply:

Valtrax: About $290
Zovirax: About $220
Acyclovir: About $25

So yeah, that's why I research medication the doc is about to put me on to find out if there's a cheaper way to do it, cause the doctor would happily write out a prescription for Valtrex, which he DID btw, before I told him that I would prefer Acyclovir since it would be less than 1/10th the cost and just as effective.

[Bartro]

Generic drugs are not identical to their brand name counterparts.  The active ingredients are identical while the inactive ingredients are not.  Rarely people may have an allergic or other negative reaction to the inactive ingredients in generic drugs that did not occur while taking the brand name drug.  Sometimes this can be overcome by using another manufacturer's generic version of the same drug if available.  Otherwise the manufacture of generic drugs must follow strict FDA guidelines.  No changes or modifications of the active ingredient, route of administration or dosages may be made.  Bioequivalency, use indications and purity must be maintained. 

[David_CA]

Years ago, I took Ritalin.  One month, my prescription was generic, but I didn't know it.  I can tell you that it WAS NOT the same.  It looked the same, but I thought something (else) was wrong with me 'cause it wasn't working nearly as well as Ritalin.  I'll generally get the generic when available, but sometimes my Dr's want me to have the non-generic brand name version.

David

[englishgirl]

before reading this thread i never knew that about the 'inactive' ingredients but it explains my (until now i thought nutty) belief that different versions of citalopram (celexa) work slightly differently on me, some better than others.

with this in mind i wonder if it means that some people will have more/less side effects with one version of hiv drugs than another? anyone actually found that to be the case? could make the difference between deciding to stay on a med or not...??

still, i completely agree with the production of generics to stop the bloodsucking (no pun intended!) pharmacos from making money out of our misfortune...

[ConnorMacleod]

I\'d bet good money that most of the perceived difference between brand name and generic is just a result of people believing that brand names+higher price=the product must be better.

The active ingredient, which obviously is the ingredient that actually does what the drug is designed to do is 100% identical, other than possibly an allergic reaction to the different inactive compounds, there is no risk with choosing generics.

Drug companies spend billions of dollars marketing drugs, probably more than they spent developing them, of course they\'re going to want you to believe that the newest, brand name stuff is the best, even when it\'s not.

Even with generics, the drug companies like to team up to gouge, 10 pills of generic Zidovudine cost about $9, and contain approximately 15 cents worth of ingredients.

[Bartro]

The prices of generic drugs also vary widely between retailers.  While Walgreens and CVS determine their generic drug prices based on the price of the brand name product, others like Costco and Sam's Club mark up their prices from the price they pay for the generic.  Here is one example.

90 tablets of generic Prozac:

Walgreens: $117

CVS: $115

Sam’s Club: $15

Costco: $12

It pays to shop around.  The retailers all pay approximately the same amount for these generic drugs but the markups are significantly different.