Why would someone NOT buy generic drugs?

Walking Man

Walking Man

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I really don't understand the mentally of spending twice as much for the EXACT same thing. Can someone explain why there is a market for some brand drugs after the patent has expired.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for drug companies makeing money on drugs that they've spent a lot of $$$$ on to develop, but when there time is up, that's it.
 
Some people don't trust generics to be the "exact" same drug, they are afraid they may not be strong enough or too strong.

Some members of my family feel this way, sometimes I do, but not all the time. I don't know about the patent part.

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
Walking Man said:
I really don't understand the mentally of spending twice as much for the EXACT same thing. Can someone explain why there is a market for some brand drugs after the patent has expired.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for drug companies makeing money on drugs that they've spent a lot of $$$$ on to develop, but when there time is up, that's it.
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Because they're not always the exact same thing. Tolerance can be off. Fillers and coatings can be different. Some people will have bad reactions to the generic and have to take the brand name.
 
If you look at the label, a typical pill contains a few milligrams of the active ingredient, something on the order of a typical grain of salt. The pill, on the other hand, is fairly large. This is done because it's hard for people to handle and take something the size of a grain of salt. What makes up the rest of the pill can make a lot of difference. Many pills have a geletin coating on them, for example. It seals the pill from environmental degradation and it makes it easier to swallow. But "geletin" can come from several distinctly different sources. If you happen to be allergic to one, then which brand of pill you get becomes very important.

Next time you're at the library, leaf through a copy of The Physician's Desk Reference. This is a huge book that lists all the pills and drugs that are legal to prescribe. For each drug it lists all sorts of facts and figures to help doctors figure out which one will be best for a given patient, what dose to use, etc. For each drug, it has a section that tells how the drug actually works... or at least it's supposed to. But, if the truth be known, a lot of 'em boil down to "we really don't know how this stuff works... but it seems to." This is one reason why drug research is so expensive. While the drug companies like to show you TV commercials of very intelligent-looking people in white lab coats working in very sterile-looking laboratories using very expensive-looking equipment starring at apparently very-complex computer models of molecules with the implication that these people are working very deliberately and know exactly what they're doing, the truth is that a lot of it is just trial and error*... mostly error... and error is expensive. Anyway, the other result of this is that while a formula for the drug may exist, that forumula may not enable you to exactly reproduce it because we honestly don't know exactly what about it specifically makes it work. So, while one company may duplicate the chemical and even do it in a less-expensive way, the "magic" may not be exactly there.






* I'm not suggesting that these people aren't very intelligent and don't know a lot. One of them is my sister-in-law.
 
It's not a well known fact that the generic version of a brand name drug is NOT identical to the brand name drug.

Federal law does NOT require a generic to be the same as its brand name. (This is contrary to what most folks believe, and also contrary to what most generic drug manufacturers want most folks to believe.)

Therefore, people will find differences in results not only between a name brand and its generic, but also between different brands of generics of a particular drug.

Further, some generic drug firms turn out a very high quality product and others turn out a lesser quality product. (Not surprisingly.) Folks can inform themselves and choose a high quality generic.

The difference between a brand name drug and its generic is less critical in certain applications (e.g. cholesterol reduction medications) than in others (e.g. psychotropic medications).

And that's one (good) reason why someone would not buy a generic drug.
 
I don't mind generic drugs for the most part but as someone with asthma I find that the brand name Proventil is way superior to the generic Albuterol. I can tell the difference when I take them but I can't afford the brand name stuff. I get it occasionally when they're out of the generic or as a freebie sample from my doc. I save the good stuff for major attacks and use the cheap stuff for daily maintenance.

Now as a note to what Gollnick wrote - I have Celiac's Disease which means I can't eat anything with gluten from wheat but I have a more severe form which also includes no milk and no eggs so for me, no milk, no flour and no eggs. I have to be careful that the coatings, additives and capsules don't contain anything I can't have.

Fortunately I have a grandfather who was a doctor and an aunt who is a biologist so I get help and I have a PDR so I make sure I check everything. But I have to do all the checking.
 
NorthStarXO said:
I don't mind generic drugs for the most part but as someone with asthma I find that the brand name Proventil is way superior to the generic Albuterol. I can tell the difference when I take them but I can't afford the brand name stuff. I get it occasionally when they're out of the generic or as a freebie sample from my doc. I save the good stuff for major attacks and use the cheap stuff for daily maintenance.
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I agree. I used to get prescribed generic Salbutamol and it was usually Smith Kline manufacture. I complained to the doctor that it was mechanically not as good as Ventolin Salbutamol, the pressure was less, it tasted sweet, and it didn't last as long. He said that some people found that the effect of having something they 'wanted' was theraputic in its use. I got Ventolin after that.
 
"...a generic drug must not only have identical active chemical compounds, but the quantity and speed of absorption of its active ingredients into the bloodstream must also be the same or similar, within ranges designated and approved by the FDA."


And there's the rub.


(quote: Tevapharmusa.com, emphasis added)
(Teva = the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world).
 
i have always had good luck with generics but one of the drugs i take for my back does not seem to work as well/as long in the generic form, there is a noticeable difference.
 
Try getting rid of head lice with the generics and you will very quickly understand why some people prefer the brand name and will go to great lengths to find it.
 
I may be mistaken but I think the generic version only has to have 80% of the ingredients of the original. Myself I won't take generic drugs. I figure if they were as good as the originals all the drug companies would be losing money.
 
Larry B. said:
Myself I won't take generic drugs. I figure if they were as good as the originals all the drug companies would be losing money.
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Larry, drug companies have a patent that last x years (can't remember) during that time they have COMPLETE control of the market of their drug, and that's where the real money is. After that, generics can be bought, and the price of the original drug almost always drops significantly.
.
EVERYONE ELSE - Thanks for the info!
 
Walking Man said:
Larry, drug companies have a patent that last x years (can't remember) during that time they have COMPLETE control of the market of their drug, and that's where the real money is. After that, generics can be bought, and the price of the original drug almost always drops significantly.
.
EVERYONE ELSE - Thanks for the info!
Click to expand...


I know they have a patent that lasts for X number of yrs. What I am saying is that after the patent expires and there is a generic version of the drug, people still buy the original. There must be a reason. Sometimes the price of the original drops and sometimes it doesn't. I am not convinced that the generic is just as effective. It is the HMO's that make the patient buy the generics and claim they are just as good. I never listen to HMO's.
 
I have no problems with generics but it depends on who makes the generic.

The drug itself has to be the same, but the carrier can vary (i.e. the original may be a hard pressed tablet with a sodium bicarbonate carrier and a film coating, while the cheap generic may use silicon dioxide in a non-coated, soft pressed tablet). The carrier, delivery packaging and "inert" ingredients can make a difference in how a patient responds to a medication.

Some generics are higher quality than others... look at all the generic asprin. Bayer's patent probably expired in the 1800's yet they still make very good tablets as do many other companies (some of them add frills like coatings, encapsulation, buffers, etc. some don't)... Then there are your dirt cheap brands that cost less than the bottle they come in... still asprin, but may be more unpleasant to use etc.

So, there may be half a dozen makers of a particular generic drug, but there may still be reasons to favor one particular brand over the others.
 
In some cases, the "generic" is exactly the same because it is made by the original drug maufacturer on the same line using the same equipment. The just mold the pills into a different shape and put them into a different box. In those cases, you'd be a fool not to buy the generic.
 
There was a welder that I worked around and with for 30 plus years and his wife could not take any generic drugs. There was something about the filler or something in the generics that she was highly allergic to. She had two close calls due to the allergy. After many doctors(specialists) and quite a bit of time, she was advised to never take generic drugs again, that this allergy she had could kill her if she took generic drugs again.
 
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