WORD on the street is that branded drugs are the originals while generic drugs are just pure knock-offs.

However, while varying arguments abound, family physician Dr Venice Bernard-Wright and Graeme Isaacs, pharmacist at Dick Kinkead Pharmacy Ltd, will settle the matter once and for all.

Will branded drugs maintain its glory as being the more effective drug or will generic drugs finally rise above the water and shed its reputation as being a knock-off?

DIFFERENTIATING THE TWO

There are those who believe doctors should only prescribe branded drugs because they are of better quality. However, there are others who are not as picky and are willing to use generic drugs, especially since, through the Government-assisted National Health Fund, these drugs are more affordable.

According to Dr Bernard-Wright, “[The] branded drug is the initial research, experiments and testing done by the medical researchers to source active ingredients in creating a drug.

“This research could take up to 10 years before the final product is manufactured on the market,” Dr Bernard-Wright explained. “As such, to protect its formula and ingredients, these companies seek a patent that could last up to 10 years, which is a method used to recover investments and profit share.”

Dr Bernard-Wright went on to say that companies that manufacture generic drugs did not carry out the extensive research as the branded drug.

“The generic drug companies simply wait until the patent on the branded drug has expired and use this privilege to use the same active ingredients of the branded drug, but with an ability to distribute it more cheaply due to the fact that the research process wasn’t necessary,” she said.

“Generic drugs are bio-equivalent to branded drugs. Bio-equivalent is a term used in the medical arena, which, put simply, is the generic drug having the same effect as the branded drug,” Isaacs concurred, comparing the two to types of milk, with the differing factors being cost and name.

GENERIC DRUGS OFFER A CHOICE, ASK YOUR PHARMACIST

Upon entering any pharmacy, by law, the above words should be displayed for all to see. But who decides whether patients use generic or branded drugs?

Both Dr Bernard-Wright and Isaacs agreed that such a decision is the sole authority of the doctor. If you look closely at the bottom of a prescription, the option is given for doctors to select whether they wish for the patient to be administered only branded drugs, or the option of choice.

ARE THERE THEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF GENERIC DRUGS?

The pharmacist explained that one branded drug could have several generic drugs on the market, leaving the doctor with several options. In the pharmaceutical division, there is what is called pharmaceutical equivalent and pharmaceutical alternative. Based on dosage, pharmaceutical equivalent is the same as bio-equivalent, but pharmaceutical alternative differs.

“Pharmaceutical alternative would infer that it is not a generic drug, not the same chemical, but the same class of drug,” Isaacs explained to the Jamaica Observer. “Think of Advil vs Panadol – not the same chemical used in both, but is in the same class, which is painkillers.”

GENERIC DRUGS ARE NOT KNOCK-OFFS

Dr Bernard-Wright and Isaacs agree that generic drugs are not knock-offs.

However, according to Dr Bernard-Wright, as with everything, there are those very few cases where patients are prescribed generic drugs, and they do not work. This, she said, will lead to the purchase of a branded drug instead. The same is also true if a branded drug does not work.

Isaacs also pointed out that there have been patients who report side effects with generic drugs but these cases are not common, and as such, there is no need to panic. Once a report is made, the pharmacist notifies the Standards and Regulation Division of the Ministry of Health.

Diana M Williams is a public relations assistant, writer and avid blogger who can be contacted at madetowrite27@gmail.com or www.twitter.com/madetowrite27.