Generic As Effective As Brand-Name
It was announced on Tuesday that there is no evidence that brand-name drugs given to care for heart and other cardiovascular situations work any more effectively than their less expensive generic equivalents.Â
The data opposes the opinions of several doctors and patients that more expensive brand-name drugs are clinically more advanced, stated Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, who was the leader of the study.
Kesselheim and colleagues studied 30 studies completed since 1984 to compare nine sub-classes of cardiovascular drugs to their generic equivalents.
The brand-name drugs produced zero benefits for patients’ clinical results in the studies conducted, they announced in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Brand-name drugs for cardiovascular disease can be as much as a few dollars a pill, whereas generic drugs might be as little as a few cents a pill," Kesselheim said.
"If a patient is prescribed a generic drug because that’s what’s appropriate for their condition, then they should feel confident taking that drug. And physicians themselves should also feel confident prescribing generic drugs where appropriate," Kesselheim added.
He notes that the increasing prices of brand-name prescription drugs hurt the meager budgets of patients in addition to public and private health insurers. In general, U.S. prescription drug sales were $286.5 billion in sales during 2007.
Pharmaceutical companies keep restricted rights to drugs for a specific number of years, after which others may vend generic adaptations that are chemically the same thing. The active elements are exactly the same, but the color and form can change and will differ in binders and fillers.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has to endorse a generic version of a drug before it can be put on the market.
Kesselheim stated cardiovascular drugs to care for heart problems and blood vessels are two of the most normally prescribed kind.
The studies cover beta-blockers, diuretics, calcium-channel blockers, statins, antiplatelet agents, ACE inhibitors, alpha-blockers, anti-arrhythmic agents and warfarin.
The researchers added that brand-name manufacturers have implied generic versions do not work as well and are not as safe. They also noted that several editorials in medical journals queried whether generic drugs are just as effective.
Generic medications signify 66 percent of the total prescriptions written in the United States, but are less than 15 percent of the money is used on prescription drugs, as stated by the Generic Pharmaceutical Association industry group.
Kathleen Jaeger, who leads the pharmaceutical group, said the research affirms that FDA-approved generics provide the same medicine with the exact same clinical consequences at considerable savings.
"You have patients worrying about being able to receive and afford quality health care. As everyone is grappling with how to increase access and reduce costs, we know that generics are part of the solution," she said.
Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, announced in a statement, "The contention that brand-name medicines drive up the cost of health care is fatally flawed.
"Without today’s innovative brand-name drugs to legally copy, there would be no generic drug industry," he added.
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