I’m pumped to address this age-old debate. Are you curious about the difference between brand and generics? Wondering which should you take? I got you.

First of all, why is there even the option? Well, when a drug company creates a drug and gets that drug to market, which often involves billions of dollars, yes with a ‘B’, in research, they own a patent to that medication for 20 years. When that patent ends, generic manufacturers can then produce the equivalent generics after proving bioequivalence with the FDA.

But are they really the same? In general, the answer is yes. According to the FDA:

Generic drugs are required to have the same active ingredient, strength, dosage form, and route of administration as the brand name product. Generic drugs do not need to contain the same inactive ingredients as the brand name product.

They usually only differ in just the inactive fillers, an unlikely factor to cause differences in the way the medication works or how you feel. In addition, generics can appear very different in color, shape, and size, in comparison to the brand, even though its the exact same medication. But in general, they are the same and work exactly the same in your body and produce the same results.

Now, if you want to learn more or you are specifically taking an oral contraceptive (birth control), a thyroid hormone, or Coumadin (warfarin), please keep reading. If not, the rest of this article may not be relevant to you. So hope this was helpful, thanks for reading and have a great day. =)

Hey, so I see you’re still here to learn more. Cool. According to the FDA:

The generic drug manufacturer must prove its drug is the same as (bioequivalent) the brand name drug. For example, after the patient takes the generic drug, the amount of drug in the bloodstream is measured. If the levels of the drug in the bloodstream are the same as the levels found when the brand name product is used, the generic drug will work the same.

However, during this type of quality and performance testing, the FDA does allow for a very small variance from the brand.

Common drugs classes that have brand vs generic issues include thyroid medications, oral contraceptives, and drugs with a narrow therapeutic index (NTI), like Coumadin. It’s thought the reason these medications have issues because of the small variances allowed in bioequivalence, which can actually be felt by the person taking the medication.

Oral contraceptives have followed other standards of brand vs generic testing to prove that it is scientifically the same. But, for many possible reasons, out in practice we still see many people responding differently to switching between brand and generics that contain the same active ingredients.

A very similar situation occurs with patients who are taking Synthroid and then try the generic levothyroxine. They can have very different results in their thyroid levels and how they feel while taking each of these.

Lastly, taking the brand Coumadin can cause issues because of minor differences in the concentration of medication in your body when taking the brand vs generic. Any minor change in it’s concentration in your blood could have significant effects on someone’s body.

So, what did we learn? Brand and generics are basically the same thing, and it often makes sense to always opt for the generic to save money unless you’re taking one of the medications we last discussed.

Ok, so that was a lot of information to take in. Please, if you have any other questions just email me. I would love to help.

Thanks for reading and take care!

Richard

richard@medvize.com