Prescription Drug Myths in the News
It is amazing what passes for news these days.
An article that appeared on a Daily News website on May 22nd offered this quote from an American pharmacist as to why drugs were so expensive in the United States:
"You just have to try to make them understand the tremendous cost of bringing a drug to market."
The reporter then went on to explain how a new drug must go through a long research and testing process, followed by costly marketing phase.
For a more accurate account:
Fiction: Each New Drug Costs $800 Million Dollars to Develop
Why are Canadian Drug Prices Lower?
The article also seemed to suggest that there was something wrong with generic drugs:
"(Patients) should know they have a choice between falling in with a brand name or a generic... The majority of the time, it’s fine to use a generic substitution."
The majority of the time it's fine to use a substitution? I would be interested to know in what cases it would not be fine. A generic drug, by definition, is therapeutically equivalent (identical in strength, concentration, and dosage form) to a brand-name drug.
The article goes on:
Still, in some cases, the generic substitution isn’t the best option for a patient. Other times, a generic equivalent isn’t available for a brand-name medication, in which case a doctor would need to prescribe a substitution.
While I can understand the second sentence (generic drugs cannot be manufactured until the patent on the brand name drug expires), the first sentence suggests that a generic substitution may not the best option for a patient.
Again, how can a therapeutically identical generic not be the best option? Perhaps it is not the best option for the manufacturer of the brand name drug (nor for the pharmacy?).
For the patient, however, how can a drug that is equal to a brand name drug with the same use and metabolic disintegration but cheaper not be the best option from a consumer's perspective?
The pharmacy then goes so far as to offer tips for consumers which include the following question to ask your doctor or pharmacist:
Are there any risks (side effects or reactions) if I change from my current branded drug to a generic medication?
Sorry to sound like a broken record but generic drugs are identical in strength, concentration, dosage form and metabolic disintegration so if the patient is currently using a brand name drug that has a generic equivalent, there should be no problem whatsoever in switching to the less expensive alternative.
As you already know, brand name drugs are much cheaper in Canada.
This is not the case for generic drugs:
