Generic drugs are drugs that are made and dispensed without a patent.
Generics may have a patent on the formula but not on the active ingredients.
The history of generics started in the 1970s when one man, Al Williams, resigned from his job as a product label manager to start his own company under the name of Keynote Marketing.
He made twenty no-name generic products 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 costs of generic drugs are so cheap that even third-world and developing countries are able to afford them.
An example of this is Thailand.
Millions of generic blood-thinning tablets were imported for just 3 USA cents each.
This cost included delivery from India where the drug is made.
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, there are a lot of drug manufacturers that produce branded drugs and generics.
The FDA has estimated 50% of generic drugs are produced by branded companies.
Yet another myth is that generics do not work as well.
This is also untrue.
The FDA stipulates that generics have to work as effectively and as quickly as branded drugs.