Internet mass media is actiely discussing the ordinance of Department of Public Health and Social Developing: According to it, from now the doctors are to prescribe the patients the less expensive drug, so calledgenerics, if the content of the preparate has the same active substance.
Talks and dedabes won't stop, and the oncologists and rare diseases specialists are terrified: they are sure, that generics can kill the weak patient and-term treatment. Therapists and pharmacists just shrug - they often recommend anologs to the patients, if the last do not have enough money to purchase the high-pricedorigial. So who of the specialists is right in this situation?
To understand the problem of genericsand original products we should start with the composition. What is medicines? It consists of the main active substance, rarely - of a conbination of two or more components, additional medicinal compoents, if necessary - dyes, sweeteners and the basis - starch, cellulose, oil, spirit or another neutral substance.
Percentage of the active substance in the pill or injection solution is called a dosage. Themore active substance there is in the drug, the more effective it is, thus, the more expensive it should be, theoretically. In practise the matter is not that easy.
As a rule, the drug price includes the brand value: 9 of 10 buyers prefer well-known drug to the unknown preparate. Often the producers are not fully honest: they write the impressive composition on the package with the big letters, while the ratty dosage of active substances - with little letters. There can be a backward situation - little known companies release the drug with a good dosage of the preparate, but has to fix a cheap price, as the brand is not well-known and there is only way to atrack the customers - by the little price.
A great variety of absolutely different in their names dugs may contain the same acive substance. And vise versa - the similiar name does not mean the identical composition. That is why you should carefully read the instructionbefore buying the drug - to be sure you purchase the medicine you need. There is onequestion left - why not really buy cheap preparates, givingthe sack to pharmaceutical concerns? That's a pity but a big dosage is not enough to judge of the preparate quality.
Some years ago there was no order in pharmaceutical sphere at all. Any quack doctor could feed his patients with any medicine that came to his mind. - from heroine to mercury. Along with that pharmaceutical production had an interesting percularity: a small amount of preparates with absolutely identical composition was released. Often the doctor just prescribed the medicine, the pharmacist mixed the necessary components to the pills, syrup or powder and sold to the patient. The risk of mistakes existed all the time, toxicity of the preparates was tested only on practice, that meanson the patients themseles, and nobody thought much about the possible side-effects of treatment.
"Bayer company" has become the pioneer in the mass production of medicines. Felix Hoffman synthesized some substances and got the first certificate and the patent from Berlin Bureau. From 1898 the well-known aspirin had been releasing in unbelievable amounts. It replaces some old preparates and became a good alternative to narcotic pain-killer. The phenomenal success of aspirin motivated other producers. There started appearing new preparates of mass production. But from this moment a possible unsuccessful preparate could hit thousands of patiends.
After some serious scandals connected with toxic effect of the new medications, the control over preparates, their composition and production process has became tougher. Now it's compulsory to conduct some laboratory tests to release the preparate, it also is tried on animals, volunteers and only after these procedures the drug willbe sent to the market. The producers will obtain the patent for the exact name, precise composition and a definite dosage. During the patent period (10-15 years) only the producer will have a right to release this developed preparate. When the patent period is over, the recipe is revealed and any wishfull producers can get a certificate of identity (correspondance to recipe, effect produced, release form) and start generics production.
Generic is a preparate, an activesubstance of which coincides with the original drug, and dosage, composition and name have some insignificant deviations. Some generics are almost identical with the originals and pass through their own clinical researches, the composition of others has additive components and changed basis of the preparate. Unfortunately the purity quality of active substances from admixures may be different for the patients. According to the statistics, up to 80% drugs in pharmacies are generics. produced in different countries even without any license or checking. However a number of generics in some markets goes up to 50%.
How to make a right choice?
How to orient yourself in the pharmaceutical market? You know your health and health of your family depends on the choice you have to make. Let's study the advantages and disadvantages of generic preparates.
+ Generic is more available than the original. It's not easy to find the patented preparate, you can spend a lot of your precious time.
+ Generic is cheaper, and the difference may be counted not in hundreds but even thousands dollar for the package.
+ Geeric is of the same effect. if you follow the dosage, you won't see any great difference in the preparate effect.
+ Buying generics, you are making a choice by yourself, not just following the advertisments.
–Sometimes purity level in generics may be not enough. .
– Additive components may be toxic or cause a side effect.
– There may appear allergie to the preparate or complications while administration the medicine.
– Effect maybe too strong or not enough for your body, as the recipe had some changes.
According to standards the speed of absorption, spread in blood and other indexes of generic and original medicine effect may differ up to 15-20%, impurities amount can go up to 32%. But that doesn't mean that generics are not effective or harmful for your health. Pharmaceutical companies do not need Claims from their patients and their mournful relatives, as a rule they care of the patients safety and the products quality. At least big companies, well-known producers and famous concerns. That is why you should pay attention not only to the price of generic products, but also to the producer company while choosing the drug. Remember that chiese producers rarely follow recipies. Besides, fake contrafactive medicaments may be figured out by the package and the instruction - bad paper, blurred seal, strange pills colour are a sign not to purchase this drug.
Wheyou buy a medicine from headache, light flu, cough or callus you are likely not to notice any difference from generic or original drug. But when we speak of some serious diseases like oncology or sclerosis, where every complication may be fatal for you, please be careful, choose generics only in reliable phamacies!