A generic drug is a medication that is manufactured and issued without a patent. The generic drugs cannot hold a patent on the active ingredients, but they can have a patent on the formulation. Generic products were started by Al Williams in 1970 when he began a company he named Keynote Marketing.
He made twenty no-name generic drugs with a plain white label which were bought by curious chain stores in America. It didn’t take long for the major chains to follow suit. They started selling their own ‘house brand’ of products made by different manufacturers.
When it comes to medication, the main criterion is that the generic must contain the exact active ingredient as the branded formula. The FDA insists that generics are compliant with the bioequivalent range of the branded version with regards to pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties. This basically means that a generic drug must be identical in its strength, intended use, method of administration, dose, safety and efficacy.
A generic drug can only be distributed when the patent obtained for the original product has expired. When generics are available for public consumption, competition in the market leads to significantly cheaper prices for not only the generic, but for the branded product as well. In the USA, a patent usually expires after 20 years.
Generic medications save consumers and insurance companies lots of money. As previously stated, this is due to the fierce competition among producers. The costs of making generics are much lower, so companies are able to offer the public a cheap price while still turning a good profit.
The prices of generic medications are so low that even developing and third-world countries can afford them. For instance, Thailand imported millions of generic tablets of a blood-thinning drug to help prevent heart attacks. The cost was a mere 3 cents (USA) per tablet, which included transportation from India where the medication is manufactured.
Generic companies are entitled to utilize previous marketing promotions created by the company that produced the original drug. This includes advertising, presentations, and dispensing free samples. Numerous generic drugs have been on the market for over a decade. They are well known by the medical profession and patients.
Many people are skeptical about generic medications. Some say that generics are made in sub-standard environments, and they are inferior to the original version. Both these claims are untrue. The FDA imposes the same regulations on all drug manufacturers whether they make generics or originals.
In fact, many drug manufacturing companies make branded medications and generics. According to FDA estimates, about 50 percent of generics are produced by brand companies. Another misconception is that generics do not work as effectively. Again, this is not true. The FDA requires generics to work as quickly and as effectively as the original products.
These generic drugs often come in different flavors and colors, and may have a different combination of the active ingredients. This is because trademark regulations in the USA don’t allow generic drugs to look like the branded versions.
