2013
Look at the results of our current poll (in the right column) and you will see that the number one way people have changed the way they purchase health care is “I ask for generic drugs.” There is good reason for that. Most plans provide strong financial incentives to use generics plus using a genetic drug is easy, patients don’t have to discuss with their doctor if they don’t want to. The hard part emotionally is getting to the point where a prescription is written. So why do some people have such a problem with generics? As this article points out, perhaps a rose by any other name is not a rose. The very word generic conjures up the less desirable alternative as in generic canned vegetables.
This article is worth reading.
In an episode of “Orange Is the New Black,” the Netflix series set inside a federal prison, a journalist rattles off a series of budget cuts that are making life difficult for the inmates. Closing the running track. Canceling G.E.D. classes. And switching to generic drugs.It’s been nearly 30 years since Congress kick-started the generic drug industry by passing the Hatch-Waxman Act, the 1984 law that made it easier for pharmaceutical companies to sell copycat pills as long as they could prove the drugs were identical to the brand-name versions. Today, the Food and Drug Administration and nearly every other major health authority agree that generic drugs are safe and effective.
Indeed, 84 percent of all prescriptions in the United States were dispensed as generics last year, and in many states pharmacists are required to dispense the generic version of a drug unless a doctor specifies otherwise.The reason, from a public health perspective, is clear: Many generic drugs cost pennies per pill, yet pack the same punch as brand-name medicines.
So why can’t they get more respect?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
When my son winds up in the hospital after starting with a generic inhalter and when switched back has no problems, why?
When my othomoligists says two of the generic eye drops start taking but only use the brand name drops of this one because he had problems with the generic, why?
Should I listen to the Times or my doctor?
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I guess that’s up to you (and your wallet). You might also want to read this post and the link.
http://quinnscommentary.com/2012/07/19/why-using-a-generic-drug-is-a-good-idea/
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Here is a magazine article exposing the history of Ranbaxy, one of the world’s largest generic drug makers.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/15/ranbaxy-fraud-lipitor/
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One of the largest generic drug makers in the world, Ranbaxy of India, recently settled with the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for $500 million. Ranbaxy was found guilty of adulterated drugs, fraudulent testing, and much more. Many generic drugs sold in the United States are made in overseas facilities, many in third world conditions, where the FDA has many fewer inspectors.
So why do generics lack respect? Spend a few hours investigating the Ranbaxy fiasco on the web. Criminality by the drug maker. Glacially slow reaction by FDA.
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In some cases the brand is made overseas and the generic in the US and in some cases the brand (even with its name on the pill) is put in the generic bottle and sold as generic by the same manufacturer. And as I’m sure you know, there have been many problems with brand drugs as well. Bottom line is people can’t afford brand drugs when there is an alternative.
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