The Benefits of Generic Drugs

For some patients, the high costs often associated with prescription drugs can make it hard to comply with a doctor’s directives. Many health conditions require that patients stay on a prescribed drug in order to reduce the severity of symptoms or live with less discomfort. When costs are a deterrent to consistent use of certain medications, patients may want to investigate generic drug options rather than not fill their prescription. Those who use generic drugs are in good company as generic drugs make up 90 percent of prescriptions filled in the United States.

Learn more about the many advantages of generic drugs today.

Generic Drugs Can Be Just As Effective As Their Brand-Name Alternatives

Generic drug alternatives are an effective and FDA-approved option for patients. Such drugs are identical to their brand name counterpart in a number of categories, including form, dosage, strength, safety, quality, intended use and performance characteristics. The generic option is considered to be bioequivalent.

Patients Can Save Serious Money with Generic

According to the FDA, generic drugs can cost an estimated 85 percent less than the medicines they are designed to duplicate. How can this be? The studies performed with brand-name drugs do not have to be repeated with their bioequivalent generic replacement, helping to dramatically cut their cost.

Generic Drugs Help Keep Costs Down in the U.S. Health Care System

It is not only patients which benefit from high-quality generic drugs. Association for Accessible Medicines shared that the savings for the U.S. health care system from generic drugs amounted to $1.67 trillion over the past 10 years. As health care costs continue to rise, it is important to continue to manufacture generic alternatives and make them available to patients, as this may help slow the increase in health care costs often passed along to patients.

Patients Can Easily Find a Generic Equivalent

Patients do not need to investigate far to find alternatives to many popular brand-name drugs. There are surprisingly large number of popular medications with high-quality generic equivalents, as over 12,000 generic drugs are available to consumers. For example, the allergy medication, Allegra, can be swapped with Fexofenadine. Another popular blood thinning drug, Coumadin, can be replaced by Warfarin.

Stay the Course with Generics

Patients are three times more likely to abandon branded prescriptions compared to their generic alternatives, and oftentimes this abandonment is directly related to high copays. When it comes to helping the many people who need to take prescription drugs, generic drugs are an accessible and affordable option which may increase the likelihood that patients follow-through with doctor-recommended care.