In a pharmacy you are buying a medicine, prescribed by your doctor, complaining silently (or somebody does it loudly) that the medicine is on an expensive side. A kind pharmacist girl is telling you about a substitute: "It is the same medication but cheaper. Here, you may compare: look at the name of an active substance on the packet. Both, here and there are the same". Why ever the prices of medicines with the same name of an  active substance are so different? What we are paying for while buying a costly medication of a well-known manufacturer 

What are generics?  

The term generic medication is used for a drug meant for:

-          possible substitution of an innovator medication      

-          issued without a license of its manufacturer

-          placed on market after the lapse either of the patent life or other exclusive rights.   

Generic medication is a cover-up for a medication, having the same quality and quantity active substances and the same drug formulation as the reference medication, and its bioequivalence to the reference medication is confirmed by appropriate researches of bioavailability. 

Why generics are substantially cheaper than brands?

It is very expensive to develop and imply a new medicine.

To begin with: big pharmaceutical groups invest hundreds of million dollars to the researches concerned with the development of innovator medicines.

Not all the researches are successful – many of them, just in the beginning of the tests, reveal very undesirable properties.

If ever the result of the tests is positive the chemical formula of the medication it got to be patented.

Passing through the series of all possible tests and trials the medication having proved its safety and effectiveness, is registered as medicine and, at last, is allowed for use.

Still, for the manufacturer it does not mean the end of the researches in order to reveal the best mode of administration and possible combinations of medicines with other substances.

The average term of patent protection is 20 years. This time the manufacturer uses to pay for the expenses. Surely, buying an innovator medicine we support such researches.

Thus, a low price of generic is due to the following reasons:

- there are no research expenses, it is just enough to copy the formula

- there is no necessity to invest big money for advertising, a consumer already knows how the substance acts. 

Does a low price mean low quality of the medication?

The main thing which generics producers strive for is to achieve a therapeutic equivalence to the innovator brand medication, otherwise the medication would not be issued to market. Of course, such research can not be ranked with a big clinical trial, but it confirms that the action of the generic is analogous to that of "the prototype". Such medicine has a full curative effect  and a minimal number of side ones.

Worldwide many respectable pharmaceutical companies alongside with their brand medications also issue generics, which are not inferior to "innovators" in terms of quality and efficiency. That is why when your doctor proposes a substitution of one medication for another, please, do not hurry up to refuse! Indeed, generics contain the same active substance and in the same quantity. It may be issued under another name. It also may be that in the name of  a generic one or two letter is changed, and the name is read as a "native" one (for instance, not "No-shpa", but "Nosh –bra").

Pharmacists say that they do not see any difference between innovator medications and generics and do not guess what is the rate of their mix.  

Who need generics?

The most interested person in generics is, by all means, a consumer.

There is another doubtless advantage of such analogues – budget economy both for the country and for an average consumer. For the same reasons generic companies exist even in well developed countries, including very rich ones. In the USA, for instance, generics are build up stock for the army and government programs of public health, they are also available in the mix of private pharmacies. In Europe almost half of the medicine market is occupied with generics. They are cost-efficiently both in purchasing and in production. Also these medicines are 40-60 % cheaper than innovator ones, it means that they are more accessible to population.

A consumer chooses himself or herself what is better: to spend money on pills from a well-known prestigious brand or to buy a cheaper generic. 

What are the prospects?

By far pharmacists and medical doctors of many countries have confidence in the future of generics. Whatever is the growth of well-being of an average person, cheap analogues will always be more accessible.