Generic Medicines

When the patent runs out for prescription drugs, generic medicines are introduced. The patent gives a company a type of "monopoly" on a medicine to compensate the company for the funds that it spent on research and development. This preferred treatment given to the company through a patent is given to the company for a number of years.

Generic medicines usually have longer and more difficult-to-pronounce names which are not as recognizable as the brand name. This is all part of the process of giving the originator of the medicine an edge over the generic. The simpler, more well established brand name can only be used by the originator of the medicine.

Generic medicines contain the same active ingredients as the brand name drug. The non-active ingredients may differ. Such non-active ingredients might be sugar, starches or coloring, which are used to bind the ingredients of the tablet together and to give it a nice appearance. It is important to keep in mind that non-active ingredients may differ between the generic medicines made by different generic companies.

Generic medicines offer the same quality as the name brand. It is just as effective in treating whatever condition or disease it is intended to treat and just as safe. Generic drugs are monitored very carefully by regulators. The same standards of quality and safety are applied to both the original medicine as it is to the generic medicine it is now competing with. You can buy generic medicine for anywhere between 20% to 80% less than the brand name drug.

The savings obtained by using generic medicines can also mean savings for the government if you are part of a program that the government pays for such as Medicare Part D. Most private health plans will cover the cost of generic medicines almost completely while leaving members to pay a large percentage of the bill, if they insist on getting the originator's brand name drug.

The Food and Drug Administration of the United States does an excellent job making sure that generic drugs are safe, even if they are not manufactured in the United States.

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