Quick post today: I was asked recently about Brand vs. Generic drugs. I recently gave a presentation on this topic to some more experienced members of our college community and had some good results, so i thought I would relay the information to the community at large. First off we should define Brand and Generic to help start our discussion. So “Brand” is a product/drug that is still under patent by a drug company and therefore they own the rights to that drug. “Generic” is a term that used when referring to drug that is no longer under patient by a drug company and therefore the market is open to who can distribute and make this product. So the question of whether brand and generic are identical can be answered by a great book put out by the FDA (food and drug administration) and can be found here http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/ob/default.cfm . This book provides information on bioequivalents (WHOA!! big word–simply means two drugs that have the same absorption into the body) amongst many other things. So, the rule is that drugs to be AB rated or equivalent they have to be +/- 10% of bioequivalent. Now when does that difference really matter, well, that is a good question and I am sure that everyone has a story when generic didn’t work for them. However, according to the information we have these differences are only relevant with Narrow therapeutic Index drugs or drugs that are beneficial at a certain level in the body and a small dose change makes a big difference between toxicity and efficacy. Drugs in this category include warfarin, levothyroxine, lithium and many anti-seizure medications. So it is important to be aware of changes of brand to generic medications and note any changes, however, very few medications is this change clinically relevant. I am a pro generic kind of guy. Good topic!
Nathan
Pharmacist on-call 