There are some stigmas in the world of pharmacy drugs and one of them is the idea of brand name drugs versus the generic drugs. This is a debate that has raged on for quite some time for those who take regular medication. The question is, as it is always, are generic drugs the same for you as the brand name drugs? The reason for the issue altogether has to do with the way people perceive the word “generic.” The idea is that generic has come to mean something that is not as good or good for you as its brand name counterpart.

If you have ever been to the supermarket, you know that generic substitutes are available for almost every single item you can think of. Perhaps you have even tried those items because of their cheaper price. You will have learned something that applies to medications, there is no difference. When a drug goes the route of becoming a generic what simply happens is other companies are given the right to make that drug legally. However there are strict guidelines that must be in place if they are going to be able to sell the generic. The main guideline is that all generic drugs must have the same active ingredient that the brand name drug has. There can be absolutely no exception to this. This will ensure the integrity of this drug so that you aren’t harmed by a cheap imitation that hurts you.

It’s not always easy to trust something that is a generic because there is a predisposition to assume that generic means less effective or not as good, but if you check out the word in the dictionary you will learn very quickly that there is nothing about generic that is bad. All it does is help, especially in your wallet.

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Every time you go into the pharmacy you are asked to switch over to generic drugs. There is a technician or a pharmacist letting you know that these drugs are expensive and if you just go with the generic brand that you will save yourself a lot of money in the long run, but every time you evade them and tell them no and you do it for two reasons:

1. You have been taking the same name brand drug for years and it’s been working so you wonder why you would ever change now?

2. And if it’s so much cheaper than the name brand, can it really be as good?

The second thing is what gives most customers like yourself pause, but the answer is yes. It absolutely is just as good. The reason that a drug is so much cheaper as a generic is easy. The price of a name brand drug is so high because there is so much that goes into developing that drug. There is the cost of obtaining the patent as well as paying the lab tech and scientists and doctors the money it takes for them to develop it. There are the lawyers and the testing that they must do to prove the drug to be safe. There is tens of millions of dollars spent on a single drug, so when they release it into the market there will be a lot of mark up to reimburse.

But when it goes generic, the recipe is made available and the people who make the drug don’t have to pay for all the research and development. They only have to pay the cost of having it made. There is far less overhead and it is a far easier price. This is why it costs so much less for generics.