Medicine can cost more than most people will ever believe. If you’ve never needed routine pills to help with a sickness or an injury, then it’s impossible to understand the cost behind getting them. Not only can do people pay around $1,200 per year for medicine, but pay through the compromises made to get it.
Prescription medication takes time to work, and so people will need to suffer in silence through their shifts before they start feeling better. They’re also expected to know if certain medications are safe or not, even though most people can’t tell the difference between generic and brand name drugs.
For the most part, patients are expected to make sure they get the right care when they’re sick. There is nobody working to make sure they’re provided for, and so people need to inform themselves as much as possible. To get back on their feet, they must learn how to both save money and recover quickly, at the same time!
Generic, off-brand medication is a perfect way to do exactly that. And to learn about how it differs from costly, brand-name medicine, keep reading below!
There is No Performance Difference Between Generic and Brand Name Drugs
The most important thing to realize about brand-name drugs and generic medicine is that they do the same things. Generic medicine will affect your body in the exact same way brand-name medication does. underneath all the marketing, packaging, and advertising — they’re the same pills.
Yet, there’s more to medication than just pills’ chemical composition. The processes that go into creating pills can differ between companies. Some companies may run extensive tests on their products to ensure that they’re safe, while others may only do the bare minimum.
And the processes that lead to the creation of different medication affects its price. The performance of generic pills may not be different from brand-name versions, but they’re prices are sure different! You don’t need to worry about whether you’re getting the right pill just because you pay less.
The FDA Requires Proof That Generic Medicine is the Same
Generic pills don’t just reverse-engineer brand-name products and resell it to people. They’re not trying to just copy the behavior of competitors’ products — they’re trying to create the exact same thing. In fact, the FDA requires that generic medication manufacturers create something exactly like brand-name versions.
Before any kind of medication is released onto the market, it must go through federal tests to ensure it’s safe. Manufacturers must make a claim about what they’re pills do, and then prove they aren’t lying while also showing that they’re safe. If a generic manufacturer makes the same claim as a brand-name, it’s federally required to make the same thing.
That means it isn’t as if you’re getting the same kind of medicine from generic medication. You are getting the exact same thing, only at a lower price.
You Can Find More Info About Brand-Names
While the generic and brand-name pills may not tangibly differ, a lot of the things about them are dramatically different. For example, you can find more information about brand-name medication online than you can for generic versions.
When researchers look into the effects of certain medications, they usually reach for brand-name versions. More people take them, and so their research will be more valuable to more people. That research is then simplified by science communicators into simple language almost anyone can read.
For example, the research around Viagra is dense and almost indecipherable to anyone without a doctorate. Yet, there are still frequently asked questions about Viagra across the web. This is because Viagra is a brand name, which means more people will research and communicate its effects compared to generic versions.
Brand-Name Drugs Usually Perform More Tests
Drugs shouldn’t ever be taken lightly; they affect your body in fundamental ways. Most of the time they work to help you recover from whatever’s harming your health at similarly basic levels. Yet, drugs can also harm your body.
Brand-name manufacturers understand that they could be playing with fire. And since their brand is at stake, they will run numerous tests on their products to ensure they’re safe to use. They don’t just run enough tests to pass an FDA clearance; they tend to go above and beyond to avoid hurting people.
That doesn’t mean that generic versions may harm you. It just means that brand-names are more fastidious when it comes to making medications. Since they’re selling their brands as much as their products, they work extra hard to protect both.
Generic Versions Face More Competition
While generic medicine may not perform as many tests before releasing their products onto the market, there are other factors bringing prices down. Unlike brand-name medication, generic pills face more competition. Brand-name pharmaceuticals have a monopoly over a lot of the pharmaceutical industry.
They’ve pushed generic manufacturers to the edge of the industry, and they’re all struggling to survive in it. So, they are willing to take massive hits to their profits just to stay alive. And consumers get the benefits of that conflict.
People who are willing to forgo the brand-name options and choose generic options will save hundreds of dollars. They won’t shop with a company that has a monopoly, which means the price will be fairer.
Healthy Competition Leads to Lower Prices and Innovation
There is one fact about economics that is taught to everyone: competition is healthy. When companies compete against each other in a market, consumers benefit. Companies will lower their prices to attract more people, or they may offer superior products.
Competition is mostly absent in the pharmaceutical industry. Without other companies to compete against, the manufacturers have no incentive to improve their products or reduce prices. Generic manufacturers don’t have that problem.
They are constantly adding things to their medications to make them more appealing to users. Manufacturers may make them taste better, or they may try and make them faster-acting. Generic manufacturers are competing against each other, and so they still have incentives to innovate.
Make Sure You Get the Right Medicine!
There is a difference between generic and brand name drugs, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the pills themselves. It has to do with the ways the medications are marketed, tested, and the health of the market. If you just want medication to make you better, you’re wasting money by purchasing brand-name ones.
There are options out there to find medication that treats your illness and doesn’t hurt your wallet. And to learn more about them, or how to stay healthy and avoid taking medication at all, keep reading here!
