Why are generics cheaper?
Some brand-name manufacturers charge customers higher prices in the United States than they do in other countries, where drug prices are regulated. Drug research is costly, and patent protection gives brand-name manufacturers at least 20 years to recover those costs—costs that generic manufacturers do not have. Brand-name manufacturers collectively spend billions of dollars in marketing new drugs to doctors and the public; they send their representatives to visit with doctors in their offices; and they pay for physicians’ trips to meetings and conferences to talk about their drugs with other doctors. Generic manufacturers rarely spend money on advertising and marketing—another important way they keep their costs down.
