Are generic drugs really effective?

Everybody face the question, whether generic drugs effective, while purchasing the medicines. The first thing that I would like everybody to understand that generic drugs are effective similarly like the branded drugs. Generic drugs are the adapted version of the branded drugs manufactured by following the same formulation used by the branded drug. Generic drugs are equivalent to the branded drugs in showing the effect as they contain the same active constituent in the same concentration as present in the branded drug. In simple words, generic drugs are the exact replicas of the branded counterpart. Along with their perfect functionality the biggest advantage of the generic drugs is that they are available at very low costs in comparison to the branded drugs.

Generic drugs works in an efficient way to cure the diseases, and it shows no more side effects than the branded drugs. The dosage of the generic drugs is exactly similar like the branded drugs. Generic drugs are identical or bioequivalent to the brand name counterpart with respect pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. Generic drugs are now available all over the world with the cheapest price and really are capturing the medicine market very fast. According to some doctors who practice Internal Medicine in United States, generic drugs produce the same effect when compared to the brand name drugs.

People use to think that generic drugs could harm their health and could lead some dangerous side effects. People are afraid of opting for generic drugs for the same reason. But in reality, generic drugs are absolutely safe and are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hence, there is no need to worry about the quality of the generic drugs. FDA approves the generic drugs only when the generic drugs match up with the following criteria:

• Generic must contain the same ingredient as the original drug.
• Generic drug should be identical or bioequivalent to the original drug
• Generic drugs should be similar in strength when compared with the original brand-name drug.
• Side-effects of the generic drug can be less, but can not be more than the original brand-name drug.

After all these tests the officials from the FDA visits the generic drugs manufacturing unit to check the quality measures followed by the generic drugs manufacturer. If the quality standards match up as per the FDA then only the drug is allowed to be sold in the market.

Generic drugs are available at very low costs because companies producing generic drugs have to no longer spend the money on the drug discovery. Generic drug companies have to follow the same procedure for the manufacturing of the drug and to take in consideration that the generic drug also produces similar effects. Generic drug companies receive the benefit of the marketing and advertising effects put by the brand-name drug companies. Thus, generic drugs are available at very affordable rates to the customers. Insurers also prefer the generic drugs because they are earning a lot of profit because of the use of the generic drugs by the customers.

The only difference between the generic drugs and branded drugs is the name of the branded drug given by the pharmaceutical companies for the promotion of the drug. It is not compulsory for the generic drug manufacturers that the outlook of the generic should be same like the brand name drug. Generic drugs when checked through the study against the branded drugs showed the same effect like the branded drugs and even didn’t show any more side effects than the branded drugs. The advantage by the purchase of the generic drug was they gave a dual benefit to the customer by not only treating his disease but also saving his hard earned money. Thus I would finally conclude that generic drugs are very much effective like the branded drugs.