Generic Drugs vs Branded Drugs
by: tristatemeds
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Before we start comparing both these terminologies, we
need to know what we are talking about. Let's look at the definitions of
Generic Drugs and Branded Drugs and take it from there.
<i>A Branded Drug has a trade name and is drug
manufactured by a well established pharmaceutical company, protected by a
patent.</i> It cannot be produced or sold by any other company. A brand
name will be simpler than the generic name.
<i>Generic Drugs can be defined as a substitute or a
bioequivalent of a branded drug satisfying the pharmacokinetic and
pharmacodynamic standards.</i> A generic name is the actual chemical name
of the drug with respect to the chemical ingredients present within the drug.
<b>Generic Drugs are cheaper than Branded
Drugs:-</b>
When we look at the price of both the branded and generic
drugs, generic drugs are much cheaper than branded drugs. The principal reason
behind this is the huge investment incurred by the brand manufacturing company
from the time of research and development till the drug reaches to its end
user. To understand the amount of money spent on various processes, read the
following points.
1. Brand name
companies invest huge amount of money in the process of research and
development of any new medicine.
2. Once the
medicine is ready, it has to get approval from the government bureaucracy
before people can use it.
3. Once
approved by the government, the product is promoted using extensive marketing
techniques through all kinds of media (print, television, internet etc) and
again big money is involved in this process.
Because of this overhead cost involved in manufacturing a
particular drug, the end product becomes expensive keeping in mind the profitability
of the company.
On the other hand, a generic drug manufacturing company
does not have to incur such big money while manufacturing generic drugs which
enables them to sell their drugs at cheaper cost and keeping their profit
intact.
Why generic drug manufacturers don’t have such huge
overhead cost?
1. A generic
drug manufacturing company has enough information from the studies done by the
brand manufacturing company, so they don’t have to spend money on research
work.
2. By claiming
their drug as a bioequivalent, they don’t have to spend money to put their
medicine on clinical trials.
3. Also, due to
extensive marketing of the innovator brand, they just claim their product to be
equivalent to it and benefit from the market value of the brand name medicine.
When can generic drugs be produced? Generic medicines can
be legally produced in the following conditions
1. If the
patent of the brand manufacturer has expired.
2. For drugs
which never held patents.
3. If the
generic medicine manufacturing company certifies the brand companies patents
are invalid or unenforceable or will not be breached.
4. In countries
where patents are not enforceable.
About the Author
Jatin Chawla is a freelance journalist. Jatin writes for <a href="http://www.tristatemeds.com/index.php?utm_source=seo&utm_medium=article">http://www.tristatemeds.com </a> offering valuable information on <a href="http://www.tristatemeds.com/index.php?utm_source=seo&utm_medium=article"> Generic Drug</a>.
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