What's the difference between generic medication and name brand?
Generic drug
Before a company can market a generic drug, it needs to file an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) with the Food and Drug Administration, seeking to demonstrate therapeutic equivalence to a previously approved "reference-listed drug" and proving that it can manufacture the drug safely and consistently. For an ANDA to be approved, the FDA requires the bioequivalence of a generic drug to be between 80% and 125% of the innovator product. (This range is part of a statistical calculation, and does not mean that generic drugs are allowed to differ from their brand-name counterparts by up to 25 percent.) The FDA evaluated 2,070 studies conducted between 1996 and 2007 that compared the absorption of brand-name and generic drugs into a person's body. The average difference in absorption between the generic and the brand-name drug was 3.5 percent, comparable to the difference between two batches of a brand-name drug. Non-innovator versions of biologic drugs, or biosimilars, require clinical trials for immunogenicity in addition to tests establishing bioequivalency. These products cannot be entirely identical because of batch-to-batch variability and their biological nature, and they are subject to extra rules.
International nonproprietary name
Having unambiguous standard names for each drug (standardization of drug nomenclature) is important because a drug may be sold by many different brand names, or a branded medication may contain more than one drug. For example, the branded medications Celexa, Celapram and Citrol all contain the same active ingredient: citalopram; and the branded preparation Lemsip contains two active ingredients: paracetamol and phenylephrine.
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
According to French EP member Kader Arif, "The problem with ACTA is that, by focusing on the fight against violation of intellectual property rights in general, it treats a generic drug just as a counterfeited drug. This means the patent holder can stop the shipping of the drugs to a developing country, seize the cargo and even order the destruction of the drugs as a preventive measure." He continued, "Generic medicines are not counterfeited medicines; they are not the fake version of a drug; they are a generic version of a drug, produced either because the patent on the original drug has expired, or because a country has to put in place public health policies," he said.
Epinephrine autoinjector
In response to criticism, Mylan increased financial assistance available for some patients to purchase EpiPens, a gesture that was called a "classic public relations move" by Harvard Medical School professor Aaron Kesselheim. The up to $300 saving cards can be used only by a small number of people who need the drug, and no one on Medicaid. They do nothing about the high price which is still being paid by insurers, who ultimately pass the cost on to consumers. In October 2016, Mylan announced a settlement with the US Department of Justice over rebates paid by Mylan to states under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program. Questions had been raised by Congress and others about why EpiPen had been classified as a generic rather a proprietary product in the program since 1997; generic drugs have lower rebates (13%) than proprietary drugs (23%), and price hikes for generic drugs cannot be passed onto states, and a common form of pharmaceutical fraud involves misclassifying proprietary drugs as generic under the program. Under the agreement, Mylan agreed to pay a $465 million payment and to a sign a corporate integrity agreement requiring it to perform better in the future; the settlement also resolved cases brought by states related to the rebates.
Lynestrenol
"Lynestrenol" is the generic name of the drug and its , , , and , while "lynestrénol" is its and "linestrenolo" is its . "Lynoestrenol" was formerly the of the drug, but it was eventually changed to "lynestrenol".
Automatic Generic Substitution
This is different from generic prescribing. In most cases, receiving a generic medicine is fully appropriate and effective for patient treatment and should continue. Indeed, generic prescribing already accounts for 83% of all prescriptions in the UK.
Bioequivalence
Major issues were raised in the verification of bioequivalence when multiple generic versions of FDA-approved generic drug were found not to be equivalent in efficacy and side effect profiles. In 2007, two providers of consumer information on nutritional products and supplements, ConsumerLab.com and The People's Pharmacy, released the results of comparative tests of different brands of bupropion. The People's Pharmacy received multiple reports of increased side effects and decreased efficacy of generic bupropion, which prompted it to ask ConsumerLab.com to test the products in question. The tests showed that some generic versions of Wellbutrin XL 300 mg didn't perform the same as the brand-name pill in laboratory tests. The FDA investigated these complaints and concluded that the generic version is equivalent to Wellbutrin XL in regard to bioavailability of bupropion and its main active metabolite hydroxybupropion. The FDA also said that coincidental natural mood variation is the most likely explanation for the apparent worsening of depression after the switch from Wellbutrin XL to Budeprion XL. After several years of denying patient reports, in 2012 the FDA reversed this opinion, announcing that "Budeprion XL 300 mg fails to demonstrate therapeutic equivalence to Wellbutrin XL 300 mg." The FDA did not test the bioequivalence of any of the other generic versions of Wellbutrin XL 300 mg, but requested that the four manufacturers submit data on this question to the FDA by March 2013. As of October 2013, the FDA has made determinations on the formulations from some manufacturers not being bioequivalent.
Drug class
Some drug classes have been amalgamated from these three principles to meet practical needs. The class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is one such example. Strictly speaking, and also historically, the wider class of anti-inflammatory drugs also comprises "steroidal" anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs were in fact the predominant anti-inflammatories during the decade leading up to the introduction of the term "nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs". Because of the disastrous reputation that the corticosteroids had got in the 1950s, the new term, which offered to signal that an anti-inflammatory drug was not a steroid, rapidly gained currency. The drug class of "nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs" (NSAIDs) is thus composed by one element ("anti-inflammatory") that designates the mechanism of action, and one element ("nonsteroidal") that separates it from other drugs with that same mechanism of action. Similarly, one might argue that the class of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARD) is composed by one element ("disease-modifying") that albeit vaguely designates a mechanism of action, and one element ("anti-rheumatic drug") that indicates its therapeutic use.
National Drug Code
The National Drug Code is a unique 10-digit, 3-segment numeric identifier assigned to each medication listed under Section 510 of the US Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The segments identify the labeler or vendor, product (within the scope of the labeler), and trade package (of this product).While the labeler code is assigned by the FDA, both the product and package segments are assigned by the labeler. While in the past labelers may have had the opportunity to reassign old product codes no longer used to new products, according to the new FDA validation procedures, once an NDC code is assigned to one product (defined by key properties including active ingredients, strength, and dosage form) it may not be later reassigned to a different product.
Automatic Generic Substitution
Generic medicines often have different sizes, shapes, colours and packaging to each other, and to the branded medicine. Switching between medications has been shown to significantly reduce adherence to treatment. Poor adherence is known to be associated with worse outcomes and increased costs for a variety of conditions.
Food and Drug Administration
These reforms had the effect of increasing the time, and the difficulty, required to bring a drug to market. One of the most important statutes in establishing the modern American pharmaceutical market was the 1984 Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act, more commonly known as the "Hatch-Waxman Act" after its chief sponsors. The act extended the patent exclusivity terms of new drugs, and tied those extensions, in part, to the length of the FDA approval process for each individual drug. For generic manufacturers, the Act created a new approval mechanism, the Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA), in which the generic drug manufacturer need only demonstrate that their generic formulation has the same active ingredient, route of administration, dosage form, strength, and pharmacokinetic properties ("bioequivalence") as the corresponding brand-name drug. This act has been credited with in essence creating the modern generic drug industry.
Finasteride
Finasteride is marketed primarily under the brand names Propecia, for pattern hair loss, and Proscar, for BPH, both of which are products of Merck & Co. There is 1 mg of finasteride in Propecia and 5 mg in Proscar. Merck's patent on finasteride for the treatment of BPH expired in June 2006. Merck was awarded a separate patent for the use of finasteride to treat pattern hair loss and it expired in November 2013. Finasteride is also marketed under a variety of other brand names throughout the world.
OPCS-4
Issued annually - even in years with no revision to OPCS-4 - the list consists of the generic names of certain drugs next to the relevant OPCS-4 code. The guidance section of the list states that it is down to the clinical staff to use the generic instead of brand names.
Drug
In the United Kingdom, behind-the-counter medicines are called pharmacy medicines which can only be sold in registered pharmacies, by or under the supervision of a pharmacist. These medications are designated by the letter P on the label. The range of medicines available without a prescription varies from country to country. Medications are typically produced by pharmaceutical companies and are often patented to give the developer exclusive rights to produce them. Those that are not patented (or with expired patents) are called generic drugs since they can be produced by other companies without restrictions or licenses from the patent holder.
Escitalopram
Escitalopram, sold under the brand names Cipralex and Lexapro among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. Escitalopram is mainly used to treat major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder. It is taken by mouth.
Common side effects include trouble sleeping, nausea, sexual problems, and feeling tired. More serious side effects may include suicide in people under the age of 25. It is unclear if use during pregnancy or breastfeeding is safe. Escitalopram is the ("S")-stereoisomer of the earlier medication citalopram, hence the name "es"citalopram.
Escitalopram was approved for medical use in the United States in 2002. In the United States the wholesale cost is about $2.04 per month . In the United Kingdom, , non-proprietary escitalopram is around 1 / 20th as costly as the proprietary version. Escitalopram is sometimes replaced by twice the dose of citalopram. In 2016 it was the 26th most prescribed medication in the United States with more than 25 million prescriptions.
Medical prescription
Many brand name drugs have cheaper generic drug substitutes that are therapeutically and biochemically equivalent. Prescriptions will also contain instructions on whether the prescriber will allow the pharmacist to substitute a generic version of the drug. This instruction is communicated in a number of ways.
Trademark distinctiveness
A generic term is the common name for the products or services in connection with which it is used, such as "salt" when used in connection with sodium chloride. A generic term is not capable of serving the essential trademark function of distinguishing the products or services of a business from the products or services of other businesses, and therefore cannot be afforded any legal protection. This is because there has to be some term which may generally be used by anyone—including other manufacturers—to refer to a product without using some organization's proprietary trademark. Marks which become generic after losing distinctive character are known as genericized trademarks. Marks which are a misspelling of a generic term (e.g., the elimination of a space) do not change the generic significance of the term.
Drug nomenclature
The chemical names are the scientific names, based on the molecular structure of the drug. There are various systems of chemical nomenclature and thus various chemical names for any one substance. The most important is the IUPAC name. Chemical names are typically very long and too complex to be commonly used in referring to a drug in speech or in prose documents. For example, "1-(isopropylamino)-3-(1-naphthyloxy) propan-2-ol" is a chemical name for propranolol. Sometimes, a company that is developing a drug might give the drug a company code, which is used to identify the drug while it is in development. For example, CDP870 was UCB’s company code for certolizumab pegol; UCB later chose "Cimzia" as its trade name. Many of these codes, although not all, have prefixes that correspond to the company name.
Ondansetron
Ondansetron is a generic drug and is available in many countries under many brand names.
Authorized generics
Authorized generics are prescription drugs produced by brand pharmaceutical companies and marketed under a private label, at generic prices. Authorized generics compete with generic products in that they are identical to their brand counterpart in both active and inactive ingredients; whereas according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Generic Drugs, generic drugs are required to contain only the identical active ingredients as the brand. Authorized generics compete with generics on price, quality and availability in the generic marketplace, and are marketed to consumers during and after what is commonly known as “the 180-day exclusivity period”.
Generic brand
When patent protection expires on a drug, a pharmacologically equivalent version may be sold as a "generic" version of the brand name drug, typically at a significant discount below the brand name. The utility of these products is considered to be the same as that of the original brand name. A similar process applies with older pesticide products.
Public domain
Because trademarks are registered with governments, some countries or trademark registries may recognize a mark, while others may have determined that it is generic and not allowable as a trademark in that registry. For example, the drug "acetylsalicylic acid" (2-acetoxybenzoic acid) is better known as "aspirin" in the United States—a generic term. In Canada, however, "Aspirin", with an uppercase A, is still a trademark of the German company Bayer, while aspirin, with a lowercase "a", is not. Bayer lost the trademark in the United States, the UK and France after World War I, as part of the Treaty of Versailles. So many copycat products entered the marketplace during the war that it was deemed generic just three years later.
Drug nomenclature
Generic names are used for a variety of reasons. They provide a clear and unique identifier for active chemical substances, appearing on all drug labels, advertising, and other information about the substance. Relatedly, they help maintain clear differentiation between proprietary and nonproprietary aspects of reality, which people trying to sell proprietary things have an incentive to obfuscate; they help people compare apples to apples. They are used in New Drug Applications for the US Food and Drug Administration, in scientific descriptions of the chemical, in discussions of the chemical in the scientific literature and descriptions of clinical trials.
Generic pharmaceutical price decay
Generic pharmaceutical price decay is what happens (in the UK) once the originator brand has lost its patent exclusivity (patent expiry) and generic versions of the originator brand have been launched.
Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
The Section 16 of the act defines the standards of quality for drugs. The Section 17 defines "misbranding". A drug is considered misbranded if it claims to be of more therapeutic value than it actually is. The manufacturer of such a drug may be asked to suspend manufacture of the drug under Section 18. Section 27 deals with fake and adulterated drugs. The act requires that ingredients of the drugs should be printed on the label.
Generic drug
Although they may not be associated with a particular company, generic drugs are usually subject to government regulations in the countries in which they are dispensed. They are labeled with the name of the manufacturer and a generic non-proprietary name such as the United States Adopted Name (USAN) or International Non-proprietary Name (INN) of the drug. A generic drug must contain the same active ingredients as the original brandname formulation. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires generics to be identical to or within an acceptable bioequivalent range of their brandname counterparts, with respect to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. (The FDA's use of the word "identical" is a legal interpretation, not literal.)
Irish Medicines Formulary
IMF is used by Irish General Practitioners (GPs), Hospital Doctors, Nurse Prescribers and Pharmacists in both community and hospital practice. Particularly useful is that under each molecule (INN), IMF lists the generic brands marketed in Ireland. With increasing use of generics through substitution, doctors and pharmacists can use IMF to show patients that the generic equivalent they have received is the same as the original brand. The website of the HPRA lists the interchangeable medicines that are licensed in Ireland but not all of them are necessarily marketed; however, IMF includes those that are both licensed and marketed i.e. available to prescribe.
Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act
With time the law became successful in promoting the introduction of generics; in 1983 only 35% of top-selling branded drugs with expired patents had generic competition, and only 13% of prescriptions were for generics but in 2012, 84% of prescriptions in the US were filled with generic drugs.
Generic brand
Due to cultivation of a name brand mindset, customers might believe that a name branded product (say, cereal) tastes better than a generic one. In many cases, this may not be true. Misconceptions can be clarified by a blind test or by storing the product in clear glass containers.
Generic pharmaceutical price decay
If only one company is able to release a generic product into the UK market, the discount against the originator brand is likely to be small, and the price will usually follow the same trend as the brand price. However in most cases more than one company will release stock at launch and they will compete for market share with other manufacturers and license holders. This means persuading chemists and dispensing doctors to purchase stock.
Pharmaceutical sales representative
Sales reps push new "follow on" or "me-too" drugs with free samples that are more expensive than existing generic drugs, such as Nexium which costs three times as much as its predecessor Prilosec, with no evidence of improved efficacy. With beta-blockers and statins, me-too drugs have improved results, and increased competition while lowering prices. As me-too drugs are similar but new, their side effects can be unknown and not well understood. Pharmaceutical marketing / reps assert a me-too drug may work better than another, but they "don’t test their me-too drugs in people who have not done well with an earlier drug of the same class."
Ibuprofen brand names
Dr Michael Readhead lead the research team to the discovery for the formula we now know as Nurofen, whilst head Research Chemist at Reckitts-Benckiser. Nurofen brand name of a range of pain-relief medication containing ibuprofen made by Reckitt Benckiser. Introduced in 1983, the Nurofen brand was acquired following Reckitt Benckiser's acquisition of Boots Healthcare in 2005. The brand is primarily marketed and sold in the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In 2016 it was the biggest selling branded over-the-counter medication sold in Great Britain, with sales of £116.8 million.
Prescription drug prices in the United States
Prices vary from one pharmacy to another as listed prices determine what the insurance companies will have to pay for the drug. Therefore, patients are rarely expected to pay the high prices listed for each prescription. According to the 2017 consumer reports, it is important to compare prices of various retail pharmacies to get the best deal. Other tips include seeking 90-day prescription when possible, asking for the lowest price when deciding to pay for a medication, asking for generics (refer to "Generics versus Brand-name Products" for more details regarding generic drugs vs. brand-name drugs), comparing insurance plans and talking to your doctor about costs in order to find cheaper alternative(s).
Metandienone
"Metandienone" is the generic name of the drug and its , while "methandienone" is its and "métandiénone" is its . It is also referred to as "methandrostenolone" and as "dehydromethyltestosterone". The former synonym should not be confused with "methylandrostenolone", which is another name for a different AAS known as metenolone.
Medication
Drugs are classified in various ways. One of the key divisions is by level of control, which distinguishes prescription drugs (those that a pharmacist dispenses only on the order of a physician, physician assistant, or qualified nurse) from over-the-counter drugs (those that consumers can order for themselves). Another key distinction is between traditional small-molecule drugs, usually derived from chemical synthesis, and biopharmaceuticals, which include recombinant proteins, vaccines, blood products used therapeutically (such as IVIG), gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies and cell therapy (for instance, stem-cell therapies). Other ways to classify medicines are by mode of action, route of administration, biological system affected, or therapeutic effects. An elaborate and widely used classification system is the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC system). The World Health Organization keeps a list of essential medicines.
Generic brand
Generic brands of consumer products (often supermarket goods) are distinguished by the absence of a brand name. It is often inaccurate to describe these products as "lacking a brand name", as they usually are branded, although with either the brand of the store where they are sold or a lesser-known brand name which may not be aggressively advertised to the public. They are identified more by product characteristics.
Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement
While manufacturing costs of generic drugs are relatively cheap, the costs of human tests are relatively expensive, and tests take months or years. If generic manufacturers had to redo the tests, the generic drug would be more expensive, and generic manufacturers might not be able to do the tests at all. Furthermore, if generic manufacturers had to redo the tests, they would have to compare the new, effective drugs to less-effective drugs, which according to Doctors Without Borders, would be unethical. In the United States, drug manufacturers must make test data public for generic manufacturers. Under CAFTA's test data exclusivity, drug manufacturers could keep test data secret, which would make it more difficult for local companies to produce generic drugs, and enable multinational pharmaceutical companies to keep a monopoly on branded drugs, including those used to treat AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Lofepramine
"Lofepramine" is the generic name of the drug and its and , while "lofepramine hydrochloride" is its , , and . Its generic name in French and its are "lofépramine", in Spanish and Italian and its are "lofepramina", in German is "lofepramin", and in Latin is "lofepraminum".
Association for Accessible Medicines
The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM), Washington, D.C., is a trade association representing the manufacturers and distributors of generic prescription drugs, manufacturers and distributors of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals, and suppliers of other goods and services to the U.S. generic drug industry. As the primary lobby for makers of generic drugs, AAM's stated mission is to advocate for public policies that facilitate timely access to lower-cost, FDA-approved generic and biosimilar medicines by consumers and patients. Over the 10-year period 2003 through 2012, the use of generic drugs generated $1.2 trillion in U.S. healthcare savings.
Citalopram
Citalopram is sold under these brand-names:On 19 June 2013, the European Commission imposed a fine of €93.8 million on the Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, plus a total of €52.2 million on several generic pharmaceutical-producing companies. This was in response to Lundbeck entering an agreement with the companies to delay their sales of generic citalopram after Lundbeck's patent on the drug had expired, thus reducing competition in breach of European antitrust law.
Comparison of the healthcare systems in Canada and the United States
One of the most important differences between the two countries is the much higher cost of drugs in the United States. In the U.S., $728 per capita is spent each year on drugs, while in Canada it is $509. At the same time, consumption is higher in Canada, with about 12 prescriptions being filled per person each year in Canada and 10.6 in the United States. The main difference is that patented drug prices in Canada average between 35% and 45% lower than in the United States, though generic prices are higher. The price differential for brand-name drugs between the two countries has led Americans to purchase upward of $1 billion US in drugs per year from Canadian pharmacies.
Biological therapy for inflammatory bowel disease
When the patent period of a drug ends, a generic version is usually made. With conventional small-molecule drugs, it is possible to create a generic that is the exact same as the original because small-molecule drugs can be characterized down to a single atom. However, the structure of biologics is far more complex and can't be fully characterized with current analytical techniques. Also, the cell-based manufacturing process of biologics results in undefinable post-translational modifications. Thus, it is impossible to prove whether two biologics are the exact same in every aspect. There are no generic versions of biologics. Instead there are biosimilars. Biosimilars are defined by the FDA as, "a biological product that is highly similar to and has no clinically meaningful differences from an existing FDA-approved reference product." Currently, the only two biologic treatments for IBD that have approved biosimilars are adalimumab and infliximab.
Roger Bate
Bate distinguishes between approved generic drugs and what he calls "pseudo-generics." These are drugs approved as generic versions of proprietary drugs by bodies such as the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but which, according to Bate, have not been adequately tested for efficacy.
Bevacizumab
On September 16, 2014 Genentech reclassified bevacizumab as a specialty drug which are only available through specialty pharmacies. "Specialty drugs usually fall under the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program, established for compounds like the testosterone... that may have unusual side effects; or for drugs that are unusually expensive." This has caused concern to hospitals as the price increased. According to IMS Health, the average price charged by hospitals for bevacizumab is approximately $9000 compared to approximately $2300 when administered in a doctor's office. As a result of the new distribution arrangement, many hospitals will no longer be eligible for the 51% discount to average wholesale price that was mandated by the Affordable Healthcare Act under the old distribution arrangement.
Generic drug
When a pharmaceutical company first markets a drug, it is usually under a patent that, until it expires, the company can use to exclude competitors by suing them for patent infringement. Pharmaceutical companies that develop new drugs generally only invest in drug candidates with strong patent protection as a strategy to recoup their costs to develop the drug (including the costs of the drug candidates that fail) and to make a profit. The average cost to a brand-name company of discovering, testing, and obtaining regulatory approval for a new drug, with a new chemical entity, was estimated to be as much as $800 million in 2003 and $2.6 billion in 2014. Drug companies that bring new products have several product line extension strategies they use to extend their exclusivity, some of which are seen as gaming the system and referred to by critics as "evergreening", but at some point there is no patent protection available. For as long as a drug patent lasts, a brand-name company enjoys a period of market exclusivity, or monopoly, in which the company is able to set the price of the drug at a level that maximizes profit. This profit often greatly exceeds the development and production costs of the drug, allowing the company to offset the cost of research and development of other drugs that are not profitable or do not pass clinical trials.
Pharmaceutical marketing
Free samples have been shown to affect physician prescribing behaviour. Physicians with access to free samples are more likely to prescribe brand name medication over equivalent generic medications. Other studies found that free samples decreased the likelihood that physicians would follow standard of care practices.
Denominazione Comune Italiana
The Denominazione Comune Italiana (DCIT), or "Common Italian Denomination/Name" in English, is the formal Italian generic name for a drug.
Generic pharmaceutical price decay
After loss of exclusivity and generic launch the originator brand normally continues to hold at least some market share as either some doctors continue to prescribe the brand or as the originator equalises sales prices against the generic.
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
On 1 February 1998, another effort to limit the cost of the PBS involved the introduction of Therapeutic Group Premiums (TGPs) on medications that are priced significantly above the cheapest medication in a defined therapeutic sub-group where the drugs are considered to be of similar safety and efficacy. The TGP is the price difference between the premium brand and the benchmark (base) price for drugs in the class. The patient must pay this TGP in addition to the normal patient co-payment contribution if they have been prescribed such a medication. The TGP paid does not count toward the Safety Net threshold.
Generic drug
Biopharmaceuticals, such as monoclonal antibodies, differ biologically from small molecule drugs. Biosimilars have active pharmaceutical ingredients that are almost identical to the original product and are typically regulated under an extended set of rules, but they are not the same as generic drugs as the active ingredients are not the same as those of their reference products.
Brand
A brand name is the part of a brand that can be spoken or written and "identifies" a product, service or company and sets it apart from other comparable products within a category. A brand name may include words, phrases, signs, symbols, designs, or any combination of these elements. For consumers, a brand name is a "memory heuristic"; a convenient way to remember preferred product choices. A brand name is not to be confused with a "trademark" which refers to the brand name or part of a brand that is legally protected. For example, Coca-Cola not only protects the brand name, "Coca-Cola", but also protects the distinctive Spencerian script and the contoured shape of the bottle.
Essential medicines policies
A rational drug policy is one based on drug use in which patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community. Pharmaceutical companies make considerable money by selling drugs under their trade names, promoting the branded drugs as against those named generically. Doctors often prescribe branded drugs which are more expensive than generic drugs which have the same efficacy.
Standard Drug Company (Meridian, Mississippi)
As the city grew, so did Hopkins and Bethea. The business was incorporated in 1911, with W.E. Hopkins as president, and the name was changed to Standard Drug Company. "Kimborough's Antiseptic" was a popular product among locals. The product was meant to treat minor cuts and scratches, but most of its popularity was linked to the fact that in included alcohol. Another product branded by Standard Drug–Jamica ginger–was also popular for its alcoholic content during prohibition. The latter, however, left some over-users paralyzed for life with what was dubbed "Jake leg." When Bethea left the company to enroll in Tulane Medical School, a bookkeeper named Ernest A. Morrison bought into the partnership with Hopkins.
Biosimilar
Unlike with generic drugs of the more common small-molecule type, biologics generally exhibit high molecular complexity and may be quite sensitive to changes in manufacturing processes. Despite that heterogeneity, all biopharmaceuticals, including biosimilars, must maintain consistent quality and clinical performance throughout their lifecycle. Follow-on manufacturers do not have access to the originator's molecular clone and original cell bank, to the exact fermentation and purification process, or to the active drug substance, but they have access to the commercialized innovator product. Overall, it is harder to ascertain fungibility between generics and innovators among biologics than it is among totally synthesized and semisynthesized drugs. That is why the name "biosimilar" was coined to differentiate them from small-molecule generics. A simple analogy, often used to explain the difference, is to compare wine with soda pop. It is harder to say objectively that two bottles of wine from two wineries are "sufficiently interchangeable," because of differences in yeast strain, weather, and year of grape harvest, than it is to say that two bottles of soda pop of the same flavor coming from two bottling plants are "sufficiently interchangeable" because they contain the same flavoring powder.
Treatment as prevention
Antiretroviral generic drugsare medications that are identical to brand names drugs. Pharmaceutical companies in Brazil and India like Cipla and Farmanguinhos have dedicated their efforts to reduce the prices of ART drugs. For example, Cipla has reduced prices of antiretroviral drugs for poor third-world countries to practically zero. Through their initiatives in combination with pharmaceutical companies in Brazil, individuals in third-world countries are being provided access to antiretroviral treatment regimens that they could not afford before. Today, ART drug combinations cost $75 dollars in Africa.
Healthcare in South Africa
A controversy within the distribution of anti-retroviral treatment is the use of generic drugs. When an effective anti-retroviral drug became in available in 1996, only economically rich countries could afford it at a price of $10,000 to $15,000 per person per year. For economically disadvantaged countries, such as South Africa, to begin using and distributing the drug, the price had to be lowered substantially. In 2000, generic anti-retroviral treatments started being produced and sold at a much cheaper cost. Needing to compete with these prices, the big-brand pharmaceutical companies were forced to lower their prices. This competition has greatly benefited low economic countries and the prices have continued decline since the generic drug was introduced. The anti-retroviral treatment can now be purchased at as low as eighty-eight dollars per person per year. While the production of generic drugs has allowed the treatment of many more people in need, pharmaceutical companies feel that the combination of a decrease in price and a decrease in customers reduces the money they can spend on researching and developing new medications and treatments for HIV/AIDS.
Generic drug
A generic drug is a pharmaceutical drug that has the same chemical substance as the drug that was originally developed, patented and innovated. Generic drugs are allowed for sale after the expiry of the patent of the original drugs. Because the active chemical substance is the same, the medical profile of generics is believed to be equivalent in performance. The generic drug has the same active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) as the original, but it may differ in characteristics such as manufacturing process, formulation, excipients, color, taste, and packaging.
Bioequivalence
While the FDA maintains that approved generic drugs are equivalent to their branded counterparts, bioequivalence problems have been reported by physicians and patients for many drugs. Certain classes of drugs are suspected to be particularly problematic because of their chemistry. Some of these include chiral drugs, poorly absorbed drugs, and cytotoxic drugs. In addition, complex delivery mechanisms can cause bioequivalence variances. Physicians are cautioned to avoid switching patients from branded to generic, or between different generic manufacturers, when prescribing anti-epileptic drugs, warfarin, and levothyroxine.
Epilepsy Foundation
According to the "Wall Street Journal", the foundation, with its local affiliates, has been lobbying for state laws in 25 states that would prevent pharmacists from substituting generic epilepsy drugs for brand-name drugs unless the pharmacist had written consent of the physician or patient. The pharmaceutical industry has also been lobbying state legislatures for the change, and working with the foundation.
Metoclopramide
The emergence of this severe side effect led to a wave of product liability litigation against generic manufacturers as well as Wyeth. The litigation was complicated since there was a lack of clarity in jurisdiction between state laws, where product liability is determined, and federal law, which determines how drugs are labelled, as well as between generics companies, which had no control over labelling, and the originator company, which did. The litigation yielded at least two important cases. In Conte v. Wyeth in the California state courts, the claims of the plaintiff against the generic companies Pliva, Teva, and Purepac that had sold the drugs that the plaintiff actually took, and the claims against Wyeth, whose product the plaintiff never took, were all dismissed by the trial court, but the case was appealed, and in 2008 the appellate court upheld the dismissal of the cases against the generic companies, but reversed on Wyeth, allowing the case against Wyeth to proceed. This established an "innovator liability" or "pioneer liability" for pharmaceutical companies. The precedent was not widely followed in California nor in other states. Litigation over the same issues related to metoclopramide also reached the US Supreme Court in PLIVA, Inc. v. Mensing, in which the court held in 2011 that generic companies cannot be held liable for information, or the lack of information, on the originator's label. As of August 2015 there were about 5000 suits pending across the US, efforts to consolidate them into a class action had failed, and "companies have paid millions in compensation to those suffering from tardive dyskinesia after taking Reglan/metoclopramide."
Counterfeit medications
A counterfeit medication or a counterfeit drug is a medication or pharmaceutical product which is produced and sold with the intent to deceptively represent its origin, authenticity or effectiveness. A counterfeit drug may contain inappropriate quantities of active ingredients, or none, may be improperly processed within the body ("e.g.", absorption by the body), may contain ingredients that are not on the label (which may or may not be harmful), or may be supplied with inaccurate or fake packaging and labeling, as is the case with homeopathic products . Counterfeit drugs are related to pharma fraud. Drug manufacturers and distributors are increasingly investing in countermeasures, such as traceability and authentication technologies, to try to minimise the impact of counterfeit drugs. Antibiotics with insufficient quantities of an active ingredient add to the problem of antibiotic resistance.
Legitimate, correctly labeled, low-cost generic drugs are not counterfeit or fake (although they can be counterfeited), but can be caught up in anticounterfeiting enforcement measures. In that respect, a debate is raging as to whether "counterfeit products [are] first and foremost a threat to human health and safety or [whether] provoking anxiety [is] just a clever way for wealthy nations to create sympathy for increased protection of their intellectual property rights". Generic drugs are subject to normal regulations in countries where they are manufactured and sold.
Trimipramine
"Trimipramine" is the generic name of the drug and its , , , and , while "trimipramine maleate" is its , , , and . Its generic name in Latin is "trimipraminum", in German is "trimipramin", and in Spanish is "trimipramina".
Prescription drug
Brand name drugs cost more due to time, money, and resources that drug companies invest in in order to repeat research clinical trials that the FDA requires for the drug to remain in the market. Because drug companies have to invest more in research costs to do this, brand name drug prices are much higher when sold to consumers.
Abbreviated New Drug Application
A generic drug product is one that is comparable to a patented drug product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use. All approved products, both innovator and generic, are listed in FDA's Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (Orange Book).
Drug coupon
Critics of prescription drug coupon programs have argued that these programs lead to higher healthcare costs for consumers. Typically, American patients with health insurance pay a percentage of the cost of a prescription drug out of pocket, with insurance companies responsible for the rest of the medication's cost. Insurance companies charge higher copayments for brand-name drugs than for generics in order to encourage patients to choose less expensive alternative medications when they are available. However, by reducing a patient's copayment, prescription drug coupons also reduce a patient's incentive to choose a less expensive generic medication. As an example, NPR reported in 2009 that the generic acne medication Minocin cost $109 a month while a newer alternative called Solodyn cost $514 a month. Solodyn can be taken only once daily, while Minocin must be taken twice daily. Since Solodyn's manufacturer offers a coupon to reduce copays, patients may believe that both drugs cost the same amount.
Ibuprofen brand names
The analgesic and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) ibuprofen is sold under a wide variety of brand names across the world; the most common being its first registered trademark name of Brufen, along with Advil, Motrin, and Nurofen.
Topical medication
The manufacturer of each topical product has total control over the content of the base of a medication. Although containing the same active ingredients, one manufacturer's cream might be more acidic than the next, which could cause skin irritation or change its absorption rate. For example, a vaginal formulation of miconazole antifungal cream might irritate the skin less than an athlete foot formulation of miconazole cream. These variations can, on occasion, result in different clinical outcomes, even though the active ingredient is the same. No comparative potency labeling exists to ensure equal efficacy between brands of topical steroids (percentage of oil vs water dramatically affect the potency of topical steroid). Studies have confirmed that the potency of some topical steroid products may differ according to manufacturer or brand. An example of this is the case of brand name Valisone cream and Kenalog cream in clinical studies have demonstrated significantly better vasoconstrictions than some forms of this drug produced by generic drug manufacturers. However, in a simple base like an ointment, much less variation between manufacturers is common.
Dimetapp
Like many over-the-counter medications, Dimetapp relies on marketing and branding as differentiators of otherwise similar (often identical) branded and unbranded medications to maintain their premium pricing. Additionally, the actual medications are subject to remarketing in other brands. As an example, "Children's Dimetapp ND" is a 10 mg orally disintegrating loratadine tablet with a "cool blast" flavour additive. The same product with a "Citrus Burst" flavour additive was also manufactured and distributed by Wyeth but branded and marketed as "Alavert" (not "children's").
Prescription drug prices in the United States
A generic drug is a chemically equivalent, cheaper version of a brand-name drug. A generic drug form is required to have the same dose, strength and active ingredient(s) as the brand name drug; thus, they carry the same risks and benefits. To ensure compliance, the FDA Generic Drugs Program conducts stringent reviews (3,500 inspections of manufacturing plants per year). Although generic drugs sound like a great money-saver, generic medicines can only be sold after the patents of the brand name versions end. Because of this mandatory period of exclusivity for many brand-name drugs (a period in which generic medicines cannot be sold), delay of generic drugs reaching the market is expected. The high cost of upfront research that the brand-name products have to go through to ensure safety and efficacy largely account for the high discrepancy in pricing between the two groups.
Metenolone
"Metenolone" is the generic name of the drug and its , while "methenolone" is its . It has also been referred to as "methylandrostenolone". This synonym should not be confused with "methandrostenolone", which is another name for a different AAS known as metandienone.
Drug nomenclature
For drugs that make it all the way through development, testing, and regulatory acceptance, the pharmaceutical company then gives the drug a trade name, which is a standard term in the pharmaceutical industry for a brand name or trademark name. For example, Lipitor is Pfizer's trade name for atorvastatin, a cholesterol-lowering medication. Also, Atocor is an Atorvastatin brand in India.
International nonproprietary name
Each drug's INN is unique but may contain a word stem that is shared with other drugs of the same class, for example the beta blocker drugs propranolol and atenolol share the "-olol" suffix, and the benzodiazepine drugs lorazepam and diazepam share the "-azepam" suffix.
Generic drug
"Branded generics" on the other hand are defined by the FDA and NHS as "products that are (a) either novel dosage forms of off-patent products produced by a manufacturer that is not the originator of the molecule, or (b) a molecule copy of an off-patent product with a trade name." Since the company making branded generics can spend little on research and development, it is able to spend on marketing alone, thus earning higher profits and driving costs down. For example, the largest revenues of Ranbaxy, now owned by Sun Pharma, came from branded generics.
Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
This pharmaceutical coding system divides drugs into different groups according to the organ or system on which they act, their therapeutic intent or nature, and the drug's chemical characteristics. Different brands share the same code if they have the same active substance and indications. Each bottom-level ATC code stands for a pharmaceutically used substance, or a combination of substances, in a single indication (or use). This means that one drug can have more than one code, for example acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) has as a drug for local oral treatment, as a platelet inhibitor, and as an analgesic and antipyretic); as well as one code can represent more than one active ingredient, for example is the combination of perindopril with amlodipine, two active ingredients that have their own codes ( and respectively) when prescribed alone.
Drug nomenclature
Valid exceptions to the general pattern occur when a nonproprietary name starts a sentence (and thus takes a capital), when a proprietary name has intercapping (for example, GoLYTELY, MiraLAX), or when tall-man letters are used within nonproprietary names to prevent confusion of similar names (for example, predniSONE versus predniSOLONE).
Herbal viagra
The name "herbal viagra" is taken from the brand name Viagra, under which drug company Pfizer sells sildenafil citrate, a drug that is used to treat erectile dysfunction. Viagra has become a generic term for many people discussing drugs designed to treat erectile dysfunction, even those which do not contain sildenafil.
Primaquine
It is a generic drug and is available under many brand names worldwide, including Jasoprim, Malirid, Neo-Quipenyl, Pimaquin, Pmq, Primachina, Primacin, Primaquina, Primaquine, Primaquine diphosphate, Primaquine Phosphate, and Remaquin.
Empire Laboratories
It is notable for being the first Canadian generic pharmaceutical company that was legally permitted to package its generic medications exactly like its brand name counterparts, in order to prevent consumers from becoming confused when purchasing its lower-cost medications. The only stipulation in the landmark Supreme Court Case ruling of (Parke, Davis & Co. v. Empire Laboratories Ltd., [1964] S.C.R. 351), was that Empire Laboratories was required to place its recognizable "E" trademark identity directly on all of its products to distinguish its products from those of the name-brand pharmaceutical competitors.
Generic brand
Some generic products may try to leverage their existing cost advantage (due to lack of promotion) further by using inferior ingredients for production. This can damage the reputation and lead to customers avoiding future purchase. Prevalence of such acts necessitates the customer crosschecking the crimp for list of ingredients and verifying that it is comparable to a name-brand.
Warfarin
The drug is marketed under many brand and generic names including Aldocumar, Anasmol, Anticoag, Befarin, Cavamed, Cicoxil, Circuvit, Cofarin, Coumadin, Coumadine, Cumar, Farin, Foley, Haemofarin, Jantoven, Kovar, Lawarin, Maforan, Marevan, Marfarin, Marivanil, Martefarin, Morfarin, Orfarin, Panwarfin, Scheme, Simarc, Varfarin, Varfarins, Varfine, Waran, Warcok, Warf, Warfareks, Warfarin, Warfarina, Warfarine, Warfarinum, Warfen, Warfin, Warik, Warin, Warlin, and Zyfarin.
Abbreviated New Drug Application
Using bioequivalence as the basis for approving generic copies of drug products was established by the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, also known as the Hatch-Waxman Act. This Act expedites the availability of less costly generic drugs by permitting FDA to approve applications to market generic versions of brand-name drugs without conducting costly and duplicative clinical trials. At the same time, the brand-name companies can apply for up to five additional years longer patent protection for the new medicines they developed to make up for time lost while their products were going through FDA's approval process. Brand-name drugs are subject to the same bioequivalence tests as generics upon reformulation.
Doxycycline
Doxycycline is available worldwide under many brand names. Doxycycline is available as a generic medicine and is generally inexpensive. The wholesale cost is between US$0.01 and $0.04 per pill.
Generic drug
Most nations require generic drug manufacturers to prove that their formulations are bioequivalent to their brand-name counterparts.
Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett
Because submitting an NDA is expensive and lengthy, the Congress set out to create an easier path for generic drugs to be issued to the public. Congress passed the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, known as the Hatch-Waxman Act. Under Hatch-Waxman a generic drug may be approved for use without the onerous provisions of an NDA provided the generic drug is identical to an already approved brand-name drug. Under Hatch-Waxman the generic drug manufacturer is prohibited from making any changes in the drug or from making any changes to the already approved label.
Generic drug
When an application is approved, the FDA adds the generic drug to its Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations list and annotates the list to show equivalence between the reference-listed drug and the generic. The FDA also recognizes drugs that use the same ingredients with different bioavailability, and divides them into therapeutic equivalence groups. For example, as of 2006, diltiazem hydrochloride had four equivalence groups, all using the same active ingredient, but considered equivalent only within each group.
Automatic Generic Substitution
Generic medicines have the same active ingredient as the branded medicine, but are not always identical, which could affect some patients. The amount of drug that finally reaches the site of action is known as the bioavailability, directly impacting on the effectiveness and tolerability of a drug.
Foster care
The use of expensive, brand name, patent protected medication was prevalent. In the case of SSRIs the use of the most expensive medications was noted to be 74%; in the general market only 28% are for brand name SSRI's vs generics. The average out-of-pocket expense per prescription was $34.75 for generics and $90.17 for branded products, a $55.42, difference.
Generic trademark
A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, due to its popularity or significance, has become the generic name for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, usually against the intentions of the trademark's holder. The process of a product's name becoming genericized is known as genericide.
Medical prescription
Brand-name drugs may be swapped for generics; if this is not wanted by the doctor, they may write "dispense as written" in the local language on the prescription.
Enantiopure drug
When drugs are covered under patent protection, only the pharmaceutical company that holds the patent is allowed to manufacture, market, and eventually profit from them. The lifetime of the patent varies between countries and also between drugs; in the United States, most drug patents last about twenty years. Once the patent has expired, the drug can be manufactured and sold by other companies - at which point, it is referred to as a generic drug. Its availability on the market as a generic drug removes the monopoly of the patent holder, thereby encouraging competition and causing a significant drop in drug prices, which ensures that life-saving and important drugs reach the general population at fair prices. However, the company holding the initial patent may get a new patent by forming a new version of the drug that is significantly changed compared to the original compound. Patentability of different isomers has been controversial over the past ten years and there have been a number of related legal issues. In making their determinations, courts have looked at factors including: (i) whether the racemate was known in the prior art; (ii) the difficulty in resolving the enantiomer; (iii) the stereoselectivity of the relevant receptor; and (iv) other secondary considerations of non-obviousness such as commercial success, unexpected results, and satisfaction of long-felt needs in the art. The decisions made regarding these issues have varied and there is no clear answer to the legality of patenting stereoisomers. These issues have been resolved on a case-by-case basis. With the number of current pharmaceuticals currently being marketed as racemic mixtures, it is likely that patentability will continue to be debated in the near future.
Drug nomenclature
In 1953 the WHO created the International Nonproprietary Name (INN) system, which issues INNs in various languages, including Latin, English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. Several countries also have national-level systems for creating generic drug names, including the British Approved Name (BAN) system, the Australian Approved Name (AAN) system, the United States Adopted Name (USAN) system (which is mostly the same as the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) system), and the Japanese Accepted Name (JAN) system. At least several of these national-level Approved Name/Adopted Name/Accepted Name systems were not created until the 1960s, after the INN system already existed. In the 21st century, increasing globalization is encouraging maximal rationalization for new generic names for drugs, and there is an increasing expectation that new USANs, BANs, and JANs will not differ from new INNs without special justification.
FTC v. Actavis, Inc.
Under the "paragraph IV route" of the Hatch-Waxman Act, a generic drug manufacturer can assure the U.S. Food and Drug Commission (FDA) that it would not infringe upon the patent of a brand-name drug by proving that the patent was invalid or that the sale of the generic drugs will not violate the brand-name's patent. This would constitute a challenge to the patent, and usually lead to litigation between the brand-name and generic manufacturers. The FDA then must withhold approving the generic drugs for a 30-month period while the courts resolve the dispute. If the dispute does not resolve within that period, the FDA could then approve the generic for the market.
Brand
A brand is an overall experience of a customer that distinguishes an organization or product from its rivals in the eyes of the customer. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising. Name brands are sometimes distinguished from generic or store brands.
Generic drug
A series of scandals around the approval of generic drugs in the late 1980s shook public confidence in generic drugs; there were several instances in which companies obtained bioequivalence data fraudulently, by using the branded drug in their tests instead of their own product, and a congressional investigation found corruption at the FDA, where employees were accepting bribes to approve some generic companies' applications and delaying or denying others.
Prescription drug prices in the United States
But even as the patent term nears expiration, pharmaceutical manufacturers employ several strategies to delay the entry of generic drugs to market. This could include by obtaining additional patents on other aspects of a drug, such as "its coating, salt moiety, formulation, and method of administration". An example of this strategy is the company AstraZeneca PLC (“AstraZeneca”) obtaining a patent on the enantiomer of omeprazole (Prilosec), a heartburn medication. The patent was obtained without significant evidence of the enantiomer’s improved efficacy. As a result, AstraZeneca was able to sell its rebranded product esomeprazole (Nexium) at a 600% markup.
Scott Gottlieb
In 2016, Gottlieb testified before committees of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate on issues related to FDA regulation of drug prices, healthcare reform and medical innovation. During congressional investigations of the rise of the price of EpiPen, Gottlieb presented testimony arguing that generic drug companies set prices according to market demand, and that the generic drug industry is burdened by regulation that slows the development and review of new generic drug applications. These regulations, he argued, made it especially hard to bring forward generic equivalents of complex drugs, including drugs coupled to a device delivery system - a category of medicines that includes EpiPen. He argued that such excessive regulations "undermine the competitive opportunities that could help inspire more choice and competition, and help lower costs." He also suggested that the EpiPen price was viewed unfairly because the list price of the drug doesn't account for rebates or discounts, and that much of the actual price paid by the purchaser is not forwarded to the manufacturer or patients. Gottlieb referred to the money received by the manufacturer of the drug as the "real" price, $274 for an EpiPen 2-pak vs. the $600 "list" price, with the difference split among various players along the pharmaceutical supply chain rather than benefiting patients by lowering their out-of-pocket costs.
Brand awareness
"Brand dominance" occurs when, during brand recall tests, most consumers can name only one brand from a given category. Brand dominance is defined as an individual’s selection of only certain brand names in a related category during a brand recall procedure. While brand dominance might appear to be a desirable goal, overall dominance can be a double-edged sword.
A brand name that is well known to the majority of people or households is also called a "household name" and may be an indicator of brand success. Occasionally a brand can become so successful that the brand becomes synonymous with the category. For example, British people often talk about "Hoovering the house" when they actually mean "vacuuming the house." (Hoover is a brand name). When this happens, the brand name is said to have "gone "generic"." Examples of brands becoming generic abound; Kleenex, Cellotape, Nescafe, Aspirin and Panadol. When a brand goes generic, it can present a marketing problem because when the consumer requests a named brand at the retail outlet, they may be supplied with a competing brand. For example, if a person enters a bar and requests "a rum and Coke," the bartender may interpret that to mean a "rum and cola-flavoured beverage," paving the way for the outlet to supply a cheaper alternative mixer. In such a scenario, Coca-Cola Ltd, who after investing in brand building for more than a century, is the ultimate loser because it does not get the sale.
Nortriptyline
"Nortriptyline" is the English and French generic name of the drug and its , , and , while "nortriptyline hydrochloride" is its , , , and . Its generic name in Spanish and Italian and its are "nortriptilina", in German is "nortriptylin", and in Latin is "nortriptylinum".
Prescription drug prices in the United States
Usually, when enough generic drug products are introduced to the market, the cost to buy prescription medications decreases for both the insurer and the patient. Generic drugs have been shown to reduce healthcare costs in multiple ways, among them increasing competition which, in most cases, helps drive prices down. https://www.fda.gov/ucm/groups/fdagov-public/documents/image/ucm129445.gif
Generic drug
Generic drug names are constructed using standardized affixes that distinguish drugs between and within classes and suggest their action.
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
In an effort to limit the cost of PBS, the Australian Government introduced Brand Premiums on medications where cheaper generic brands were available. The Brand Premium is usually the price difference between the innovator brand and the generic brand. The patient pays the Brand Premium in addition to the normal patient contribution if they decline to purchase the generic brand. The Brand Premium paid does not count toward either safety net threshold and must still be paid even after the threshold is reached.