With the recent development of pharmaceutical world in term of drugs patent protection expiring soon, generic drugs market has been on the spotlight. At the current rate, it accounts for about 63% of all U.S. prescriptions for drugs. The main contributing factor of such a huge market is that generic drugs sell at much lower prices versus it’s brand-name counterparts. In such, consumers and purchasers of prescription drugs are able to save huge amount in term of billions of dollars each and every year, by switching to generic drugs.
On of the main difference between a branded drug and a generic drug is that Generic Drug Manufacturers are not required to duplicate the original medical studies of the branded drug counterpart. Since the safety and effectiveness of the branded drug has already been determined before hand, only bio-equivalence and/or therapeutic equivalence testing is required during Generic Drug Development to obtain FDA approval for the quality of the generic drugs. Thus, both health professionals and consumers can then be assured that FDA approved generic drugs have met the same rigid standards just as the branded drug, while enjoying great cost saving.
With the huge cost saving in Generic Drug Development process, manufacturers are then be able to pass on the saving to consumers. However, people still having the thoughts that generics might be of inferior quality compare to the branded drugs counterpart. Bear in mind that Generic Drugs are indeed just as safe to be used. These drugs are FDA approved before being market out. If in need, go ahead and purchase them with no worry about the quality of these generic drugs.
