| These days we hear a lot about generic medications, or generics as they are commonly called. What do they represent? Generic medications are a category of medicines that are produced and sold with no brand name or patent, but at the same time they are identical to their branded analogues. They are reputed to be resembling to patented medical products in composition, dosage, efficiency, safety and manner of use. What is different between these two kinds of drugs is that brand-name medications' cost is much higher. According to the statistics, generic medical products cost seventy per cent less than their equivalents approved by the FDA.
Branded medicines are usually patented what signifies that their manufacturers are reputed to be the innovators of the products and the only producer of this type of medicines for twenty years. In such a way, a company-inventor has a chance to cover all the expenses on the creation of the medical product because they have exclusive rights to producing and sale of the drug. But after the period of 20 years other firms get a possibility to manufacture and sell generic versions of the brand-name medications. As it has already been said, generic medicines are significantly cheaper than the ones approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and there are a number of reasons for that. Firstly, they don't have to spend resources and money for the research and patent fees. Secondly, to win a competition they have to reduce prices since the majority of the people would prefer brand-name medical products to generic ones if the prices were the same. That's the reason why the manufacturers of generic medicines try to sell their products at the lowest price possible.
It is logical that most people choose cheaper drugs rather than more expensive ones, but still they are anxious about the quality. We wouldn't recommend to buy the medical products without FDA approval, since no one can answer for their safety. But the generic variants of famous medical products that have passed tests of Food and Drug Administration are completely identical to their branded equivalents. Otherwise the FDA would never approve them.
Generic drugs are nowadays widely represented in Internet pharmacies. Buying a medical product from online pharmacy may become a real bargain, or a waste of money depending on what pharmacy you choose. That is why before buying a medication you have to make sure that the pharmacy is reputed and reliable. Read consumers' references, consult your relatives and friends. When it comes to medicines remember that money does not have the same value as your health. |
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