Health care is increasingly seen as a right, not a luxury. Drugs are the foundation of any health care system. Without a sufficient amount of good quality medicines, even the best medical professionals cannot function and save lives.
Saving lives requires systems in which the right medicine is produced and delivered in the right place and used in the right patient at the right amount at the right time and at the right cost.
Health issues are also increasingly attracting the attention of mainstream media, and one of their favorite topics is Generic Medicines. While their headlines are great, content usually surrounds controversy and commentary.
Social media also joins the mainstream, and people jump and take sides to make a judgment about who is right. Unfortunately, the topic suffers in all these activities. This article attempts to provide you with scientific information about Generic Medicines.
WHAT DOES GENERAL MEDICINE DO?
Medicines are chemical agents and are manufactured from a scientific point of view, that is, discovered or invented (innovative).
Drug innovation requires tremendous effort and resources. Therefore, the one who does this needs compensation and reward in order to continue to do so.
Compensation for innovation is usually included in the legal form of intellectual property rights, called “Patents,” which are awarded over a specific time frame. During the life of such rights, no other organization can produce and supply the drug.
General medicine has been defined by various expert bodies, such as the World Health Organization, the US FDA, the European Medical Agency, etc. These definitions are complex and their reproduction here will not serve the purpose of easy understanding.
A simple derivation of a generic drug from all these definitions would be “A drug that is no longer protected by intellectual property rights and can be manufactured and provided freely by anyone who is competent, qualified and able to prove the identical nature of a generic drug with a reference innovator and can be used interchangeably in patients with original innovative products. ”
Since intellectual property rights are awarded for fixed time frames, most drugs worldwide that are manufactured and supplied are “generic and generic” in nature.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS INTENDED BY GENERAL DRUGS?
A very important result of the fact that the drug loses its intellectual protection, is the output of competitors, which pushes prices down. Thus, the introduction of a generic drug reduces the cost of the original drug innovator.
Generic drugs offer preferential prices, expand access to pharmacological therapy, provide an incentive for innovation by both manufacturing companies and generic companies, and can have a positive effect on drug adherence.
DOES GENERAL MEDICINES EQUIVALENTS IN ORIGINAL INNOVATIVE PRODUCT FOLLOW?
By definition, generic drugs should be equivalent to the product innovator in terms of dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality, safety, performance, and intended use.
Generic drugs are chemically identical to their brand-name counterparts, but they look different in size, shape, and color in accordance with the law.
Marketing approvals for drugs from innovators are usually provided by regulators, usually testing patient efficacy and safety. While marketing approvals for generic drugs are usually provided by regulators based on several bioequivalence studies involving healthy people.
DO GENERAL MEDICINES SHOW EQUIVALENT CLINICAL RESULTS AS INNOVATIVE?
To date, only a few studies have been published in this area. The results did not show large differences, but in this respect generalizations cannot be made, and more research is needed.
WHAT DO DOCTORS AND PHARMACISTS DO ON GENERIC DRUGS?
A recent study found that doctors and pharmacists from less mature health systems have mixed feelings for generations because of poor control and producer standards. They also note that there is a lack of reliable information and a lack of confidence in efficiency and quality.
In the most developed health systems, participants trusted the quality of generic drugs and were not shy about offering them to all patients, regardless of socio-economic status.
The main difference between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries is that doctors from high-income countries usually have positive views, while people from LMIC tend to have mixed views on generic drugs.
WHERE ARE THE MAJOR MARKETS FOR GENERIC PREPARATIONS?
The main generic markets are the United States of America, followed by the European Union, Canada, Japan and Australia. The main suppliers of generic drugs are China and India.
WHAT ARE THE NAMES FOR WHICH GENERAL MEDICINES ARE SOLD?
Common medicines can be sold under two names.
First, generic drugs can be sold under the “generic name,” which is the generic name associated with the drug or salt inside the tablet. This type of sales under the general name is accepted only by a few manufacturers for several customers.
Secondly, generic drugs can be marketed under the brand name or “brand name”, which is a trademark that cannot be used by another manufacturer. This type of sales is most often accepted. Such generics are also known as branded generics, and the goal is to create value in the eyes of consumers / customers.
Note. This article is written for the purpose of exchanging scientific information without intent to harm any business or cause controversy. Any such attempts or uses of this article are contrary to the pure scientific spirit of the article and are not encouraged.
