What's Right Or Wrong With Generic Drugs

Lee

Lee

Senior Member
Location
Chatham, Ontario
Big argument yesterday with hubby about the 81 mg baby aspirin. I made the big error of buying the store brand rather than the one advertised on tv. They did not have any small bottles of the name brand in little bottles.

Neither of us takes it, keep it only for the heart attack warning where you are supposed to chew it if you think you are having a heart attack.

How do you feel about this, not just over the counter drugs but drugs in general?
 

Generic drugs undergo the same checks and have to be as efficacious as branded ones. I have heard though of doctors in some cases specifying a particular brand of drug. This is not because of the active ingredients, but the inert ones that make up the bulk of the drug. These may affect the absorption rate of the active drug and this may be important in some cases.

I generally buy 'store brand' drugs such as paracetamol. I take a couple of tablets for blood pressure, and my pharmacist often gives me different brands of the same drug.
 
I prefer all name brand drugs/medications.
Imo..generics seem to be inferior. They don't last as long, and sometimes aren't as powerful.

They also tend to make my heart race.
 

For OTC products if this the name-brand is on sale for not too much more, that’s what I’ll buy. Can’t help myself. I know the active ingredients are supposed to be the same.

The same kind of influence comes into my thinking about regular medications, though I have to trust my doctor on this. The extended medical doesn’t pay quite as much of the % for the name brand.
 
I've used generic OTC and RX for years with no problems. @Capt Lightning is right, the active ingredients are the same but there have been issues with binders though I think that's rare

...edited after HoneyNut's post below to say issues may be more common than I thought.
 
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I feel fine getting the store brand of OTC drugs, but not always okay about the generic versions of prescribed drugs. Drugs are allowed to be within a range for their active ingredient, and if buying generic and the store switches manufacturers to get the cheapest price then it can vary the effectiveness. My doctor told me it is easier to get consistent thyroid test results when patients use the name brand version.
And once when I was on an antibiotic long-term for Lyme disease, I was using generic and it was okay until the store switched manufacturers, then I could tell it wasn't working. I found the previous type of generic at a different type of pharmacy and I was okay again, but then that pharmacy switched to the bad generic manufacturer also. It was very frustrating, I had to switch to the name brand that was a couple hundred dollars a month (because my insurance only covered it for generic).
The pharmacy told me the generic is the same, but I found when googling that the bad manufacturer had gotten three warning letters from the FDA about their version not meeting standards. The information wasn't available as a caution to consumers, I only found it in a stock analysis about the company, warning investors that that company might be going to lose the license to sell that generic brand in the US.
It is extra disgusting because everyone blames patients for antibiotics not being used correctly, but there was a manufacturer under-dosing the antibiotic to tremendous numbers of people, and I think that would cause a drug-resistance to happen.
 
My wife had open heart surgery in 2019. Arterial Valve Stenosis.

She takes baby aspirin.

Ideally, there is no difference between a generic and a name brand.

In reality?

You are basically dealing with companies trying to make a profit by selling something at a lower price. Will that compromise quality?

I don't think it definitely will, but I think the odds are greater that it will.

Unless absolutely necessary, I would go with the name brand.


And if you are dealing with something low cost, like aspirin, I would go with the name brand.


Two articles...

From NPR..


'Bottle Of Lies' Exposes The Dark Side Of The Generic-Drug Boom

https://www.npr.org/sections/health...xposes-the-dark-side-of-the-generic-drug-boom

+++++++++++++++++++++

from Time Magazine...
​

How Some Generic Drugs Could Do More Harm Than Good​



https://time.com/5590602/generic-drugs-quality-risk/​

 
The active ingredient is suppose to be same and fillers can be different.....
BUT as with many things like pointed out in @HoneyNut post the Follow- thru by the FDA is not ensuring safety for anyone.....
AS long as it meet requirements when seeking initial approval no one seems to check later.....
I think any regulatory discipline or warnings should be more accessible to public and sent to any patient that is currently taking or recently took
very expensive for them to have to notify and making them public is a far greater punishment then........................................... the FDA saying "Stop or i will say Stop again"
 
Jeni said:
The active ingredient is suppose to be same and fillers can be different.....
BUT as with many things like pointed out in @HoneyNut post the Follow- thru by the FDA is not ensuring safety for anyone.....
AS long as it meet requirements when seeking initial approval no one seems to check later.....
I think any regulatory discipline or warnings should be more accessible to public and sent to any patient that is currently taking or recently took
very expensive for them to have to notify and making them public is a far greater punishment then........................................... the FDA saying "Stop or i will say Stop again"
Click to expand...
yup, they have no teeth.


Hidden conflicts? Pharma payments to FDA advisers after drug approvals spark ethical concerns​

Science investigation of journal disclosures and pharmaceutical funding records shows potential influence on physician gatekeepers

https://www.science.org/content/art...a-advisers-after-drug-approvals-spark-ethical​

 
My doctors recommend generic medications. They would know I think. But then again, I do not generally take anything much more serious than ibuprofen. I get a prescription only rarely.
 
Michael Z said:
My doctors recommend generic medications all the time. They would know I think.
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Doctors know what it is supposed to be............. which is same type and strength of active ingredient........ after that they are relying on the Honor system like everyone else.
 
I’ve been on many medications for 25 years. I’m a kidney transplant patient. My doctors do specify brand only on a couple of my meds. I tend to buy name brand over the counter. I feel they work better. Maybe it’s psychological.
 
Jeni said:
Doctors know what it is supposed to be............. which is same type and strength of active ingredient........ after that they are relying on the Honor system like everyone else.
Click to expand...
had a job doing bookkeeping for a funeral home. One of the funeral directors had been a salesman / rep for a big pharmaceutical company. One day he pulls me aside and tells me a story. That he and the other salesman used to joke among each other, about how tiny of a bribe it took, to make the doctors prescribe the medications they wanted them to prescribe.

Now, this is NJ and has had a HUGE pharmaceutical presence for decades. So, maybe it is less corrupt in areas that don't have that kind of influence.

But I was there, when this guy said this to me. It's not like he had any agenda to lie. I think he was kind of bragging to me about how great of a salesmen he was. But I didn't take it that way. I just thought...oh, I guess here's yet another example of bribes and corruption.
 
If I recall my organic chemistry...you can have two molecules which qualify, legally, as the same drug, but have some level of variance in the benzene rings or whatever the molecular construction is.

So, there is the drug and the receptor at the cell level.

Better drugs tend to make that interchange smoother and without as many problems.

So, for example, while you can buy an ascorbic acid pill in the drug store, made in a lab and called Vitamin C, the Vitamin C that you get from an orange is a different molecular construction and much, much easier on the body.

so, with the difference between generic drugs and brand names...you can have those kinds of issues.

And then, yes, it could merely be a sales ploy to charge you more money.

I am big on erring on the side of caution. And especially with medical. I would go with the name brand.

I mean, if you are talking about something like topical Ben-Gay, versus the generic store brand? Oh, I think the generic would be fine.

But if you are talking about an internal medication for a serious medical issue? I would really try to avoid the generics.
 
JonSR77 said:
had a job doing bookkeeping for a funeral home. One of the funeral directors had been a salesman / rep for a big pharmaceutical company. One day he pulls me aside and tells me a story. That he and the other salesman used to joke among each other, about how tiny of a bribe it took, to make the doctors prescribe the medications they wanted them to prescribe.

Now, this is NJ and has had a HUGE pharmaceutical presence for decades. So, maybe it is less corrupt in areas that don't have that kind of influence.

But I was there, when this guy said this to me. It's not like he had any agenda to lie. I think he was kind of bragging to me about how great of a salesmen he was. But I didn't take it that way. I just thought...oh, I guess here's yet another example of bribes and corruption.
Click to expand...
This doesn’t surprise me at all
 
JonSR77 said:
had a job doing bookkeeping for a funeral home. One of the funeral directors had been a salesman / rep for a big pharmaceutical company. One day he pulls me aside and tells me a story. That he and the other salesman used to joke among each other, about how tiny of a bribe it took, to make the doctors prescribe the medications they wanted them to prescribe.

Now, this is NJ and has had a HUGE pharmaceutical presence for decades. So, maybe it is less corrupt in areas that don't have that kind of influence.

But I was there, when this guy said this to me. It's not like he had any agenda to lie. I think he was kind of bragging to me about how great of a salesmen he was. But I didn't take it that way. I just thought...oh, I guess here's yet another example of bribes and corruption.
Click to expand...
That is sad but true .... the reps who come in give out freebies to doctor and staff ....food / swag etc..... look at all the office supplies in a doctor office i have seen post-its / kleenex boxes with ads / posters / calendars etc
Of course if a patient has a issue that will be the first choice coming to mind as it is all over with reminders.....
I think they scaled back items like trips / cruises etc but that was an item
my dentist even sent his staff on the trips offered as a bonus to staff that cost him nothing but steering patients toward a specific drug or in his case Sonicare toothbrushes.
 
I will buy generic or store brand OTC medications. However, I asked my glaucoma specialist about OTC eye drops like one uses for dry or itchy eyes and he said he preferred I use the name brands ( like Systane) rather than store brands. Something having to do with the preservatives used in the drops. I can usually find a coupon for the more expensive brands.
 
Lee said:
Big argument yesterday with hubby about the 81 mg baby aspirin. I made the big error of buying the store brand rather than the one advertised on tv. They did not have any small bottles of the name brand in little bottles.

Neither of us takes it, keep it only for the heart attack warning where you are supposed to chew it if you think you are having a heart attack.

How do you feel about this, not just over the counter drugs but drugs in general?
Click to expand...
Lee, For your purpose it wouldn't make any difference between a name brand and generic. Aspirin isn't expensive and for the sake of your husband's peace of mind and domestic tranquility you should get the name brand next time. I'm assuming that you are buying the chewable type and I'd guess that the name brand might taste better too.

What does make a difference is whether you and your husband each carry it on your person at all times. I have had a heart attack and I certainly wasn't expecting it to happen when it did or where I was.

I have had different scrips over the years and I haven't been able to tell much of a difference between name brand and generics as far as results or additional side effects. Where I have noticed the difference is in things like creams and ointments. The generic products often are less firm making or have a residue that is different from the name brand product, but have worked pretty well for the intended purpose.
 
Jeni said:
That is sad but true .... the reps who come in give out freebies to doctor and staff ....food / swag etc..... look at all the office supplies in a doctor office i have seen post-its / kleenex boxes with ads / posters / calendars etc
Of course if a patient has a issue that will be the first choice coming to mind as it is all over with reminders.....
I think they scaled back items like trips / cruises etc but that was an item
my dentist even sent his staff on the trips offered as a bonus to staff that cost him nothing but steering patients toward a specific drug or in his case Sonicare toothbrushes.
Click to expand...
Tsk tsk. These nasty pharmaceutical companies....it's a known fact that they hire only attractive men and women to their sales force; the audacity! As if physical appearance of the rep is what actually makes the doctor prescribe a drug. Wow.
 
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I use one generic medication. If I didn't, the cost would be prohibitive. I also use one name-brand medication.

Patek24 said:
Tsk tsk. These nasty pharmaceutical companies....it's a known fact that they hire only attractive men and women to their sales force; the audacity! As if physical appearance of the rep is what actually makes the doctor prescribe a drug. Wow.
Click to expand...

Have you ever worked in sales? No? Then you'd be surprised at the lengths manufacturers and distributors will go to to get their products out there. I wasn't selling pharmaceuticals, but worked in outside sales for a number of years. There were male customers who only wanted to buy from me and female customers who only wanted to buy from the male sales reps. I'm not kidding. I even told my boss about one guy who literally chased me around a table. My boss asked, "Did you get the order?" 🤨 Yeah, I got it, and with my commission from the sale, I bought a new pair of track shoes. :rolleyes:

A friend of mine was a sales rep for Glaxo Wellcome Pharmaceuticals. He was handsome, charming, and smart. He gave away plenty of freebies. He was great at his job and did very well. For his efforts, the company not only gave him cases of scotch, but he also got trips to Hawaii. 🏝️

Bella ✌️
 
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