What are generic drugs?
When a pharmaceutical company first invents a drug that company is the only one allowed to produce the drug for certain number of years depending on the country where it is patented. This period of patent differs e.g. it could be 10 years in USA and 7 in Canada. A generic drug is a medication for which the original manufacturer has lost its patent protection and other manufacturers have produced the exact medication at a much lower price. This generic drug has the same exact constitution as the original brand name drug, and because of strict regulations enforced by Federal Governments, these drugs must provide the same therapeutic effect as the brand name.
When a pharmaceutical company first invents a drug only that company is allowed to produce the drug for a few years. The number of years depends upon the country where the company has patented the drug. Once the patent protection on a drug is over, other manufacturers can produce the same medication at a much lower price. This is known as a generic drug and, by strict regulations enforced by the Federal Government; the generic drug has to have exactly the same formula and provide the same effect as the original brand name drug.
Generic drugs are reviewed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They have the same active ingredients and come in the same strength and dosage form as their brand-name counterparts. You can expect the generic drug to produce the same effects as the comparable brand-name drug. For additional information about generic drugs, you can visit the generic drug section of CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield’s Web site.
Generic drugs are medications which are bioequivalent to brand name drugs. These drugs contain the exact same chemicals as brand name drugs but can be made by many different generic drug companies. A company which first discovers and markets a drug is the only company which is allowed to market that drug. This is referred to as a Brand Name drug. After a period of time, five or ten years, the drug patent expires and other companies are allowed to manufacture and market the exact same drug at lower prices. This is referred to as a Generic drug.
Generic drugs are chemically identical to Brand name prescription drugs except for slight differences in appearance, but they cost substantially less. Think of them as medications that are the bio-equivalents to brand name drugs. A company which first discovers and markets a drug, gets a “patent” for it, and is then the only company that is allowed to market that drug (aka Brand Name). After a period of time, usually 5 or 10-years, the drug patent expires and other companies are allowed to manufacture and market the exact same drug at lower prices — these are referred to as Generic drugs.
