The Truth Behind Generic Drug Controversy

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 490
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When you start discussing generics in presence of someone who works for a big pharmaceutical company the reaction will typically be similar to that of the Pope when discussing abortion or gay marriage. The reason for this is very obvious. The big companies are quite unhappy to share their profit with some small companies that didn't invest a penny into researching and marketing the drug they sell. And all the small players have to do is just wait a couple of years for the exclusive patent to expire and they can easily duplicate the formula and produce cheap generics times cheaper than the original drug.

Fact is that most generics you see on the market are chemically identical to branded drugs and deliver the same effects but for a much lower price. So most people choose them over branded variations since it helps save some money on drug purchase. And that really annoys big pharmaceutical companies that price their products so high because they have invested a lot of money into developing, researching and testing the new drug and want to get some revenue for this. Such companies usually have a lot of influence and lobbying ...
... power, and as a result you constantly hear that generics are bad and don't satisfy the quality control in most cases.

In reality, only a small percentage of generic drugs do not comply with requirements being simply counterfeit products (and you don't expect the same quality from such drugs, do you?). All other generics are produced even from the same ingredients as the branded variations, using raw materials and chemicals coming out of China and South-East Asia. So the only difference is the package, label and of course the price, which is enough to buy the user's attention over a much more expensive yet branded drug that was heavily advertised in TV ads, magazines and other sources.

Let's take a popular drug like Viagra. Pfizer has made billions of dollars in a couple of years after bringing it to the market. It was literally everywhere, and the fact that it was the first drug to be ever approved by the FDA for treating erectile dysfunction also helped increase the overall income for Pfizer. And now we have dozens of Viagra generics that the big pharmaceutical company warns against as being low in quality and not delivering the same effects as original Viagra. Well, for some people who tend to believe everything they hear such a campaign can sound pretty honest and they will buy only branded variations regardless of the price. However, all companies that produce generic variations of this drug use the same formula and ingredients as Pfizer does and the resulting drug is the same in effectiveness as its more expensive analog.

In the end it all comes to personal choice. Some people like to get the drug they know more about and will pay more for this. Others count their money and will choose generics over branded drugs since they are a lot cheaper. However, it is utterly wrong to say that generic variations are somewhat inferior to branded drugs just because they are produced somewhere in Vietnam rather than in the US.