Whats the difference between a generic and brand-name drug?
Not much, except for name and price. A generic drug is called by its chemical name; a manufacturer assigns a brand name. The products have the same ingredients. Standard practice and most state laws require that a generic drug be generically equivalent to its brand-name counterpart. That is, it must have the same active ingredients, strength, and dosage form – pill, liquid, or injection. The generic drug also must be therapeutically equivalent – it must be the same chemically and have the same medical effect. • Why are generic medicines so cheap? The principal reason for the reduced cost of generic medicines is that these are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, often located in India, which do not invest in research and development into new drugs, they only copy the designs of existing drugs. These companies also do not pay for television or radio advertising; the drugs they are selling have been on the market for usually a decade or more and do not need additional advertising. •
