• Careers
  • Education
  • Research
  • Giving
Ochsner Health Ochsner Health
  • About
  • Find A Doctor (current)
  • Find A Location
  • Specialties & Treatments
MyOchsner Logo
Login | Signup
Submit Search
Close Search
  •   Home
  • In To Your Health...
  • Food & Fitness
  • Conditions & Treatment
  • Health Trends
  • Prevention & Wellness
  • Women's Health
  • Men's Health
  • Mental Health
  • Parenting
  • I need to...
  • Find A Doctor
  • Find A Location
  • Find A Specialty
  • Schedule An Appointment
  • Pay A Bill
  • Explore
  • About Ochsner
  • Careers
  • Patients & Visitors
  • "To Your Health" Blog
  • Health Resources
  • Medical Professionals
  • Education
  • Philanthropy
  • Community Outreach
  • Research
  • Ochsner Health Network
  • Schedule an Appointment
  • Call: 1-866-624-7637
  • Online: Login to MyOchsner
  • Personalize your content
  • patient Edit Persona Persona Chooser
To Your Health

View Newsletter Editions
  • Food & Fitness
  • Conditions & Treatment
  • Health Trends
  • Prevention & Wellness
  • Women's Health
  • Men's Health
  • Mental Health
  • Parenting
Woman looking at the ingredients on the back of a medicine box

What is the Benefit of Using Generic Medications?

May 24, 2019 |
By Monica Dziuba, PharmD, DPLA
Share Facebook Logo Twitter Logo Pinterest Logo Email Logo

“Generic medications are cheaper than their branded counterparts.”

You have likely been told some variance of this statement at your pharmacy, but let’s take a step back and discover what the real difference is between generic and branded medications.

Are generic medications as effective as brand medications? Are they just as safe? How are they different? Here are the answers to these questions and why using generic medications is a viable option.

What is a generic drug?

  • According to the FDA, a generic drug is “a medication created to be the same as an existing, approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics.”
  • It has the exact same active ingredient as the branded version and, therefore, shares the same effectiveness and safety profile.
  • Generic drugs undergo a review process by the FDA before they are approved for market.

Why are generic drugs cheaper?

Generic drugs are not required to undergo the same animal and human clinical trials that branded medications do and therefore are cheaper to bring to market because the research costs are much less.

In addition, once a brand manufacturer loses the patent for the drug after several years of being on the market, multiple generic manufacturers then can produce a generic form of the drug thereby increasing market competition. A generic drug may be as much as 85 percent less in price than the branded medication.

What’s the difference between biosimilar drugs and generic drugs?

A biologic medication falls into a class of large, complex molecules approved to treat diseases and a variety of medical conditions. They are manufactured in a much more complicated process, often using living cells to produce these compounds. Biosimilar medications offer patients a more cost-effective means of obtaining these biological medications.

Biosimilar manufacturers must demonstrate that their products are equivalent in safety, purity and potency as the branded product, though the biosimilar may contain minor differences in inactive components.

Much like generic drugs, biosimilars are not required to undergo the extensive animal and human testing and rely on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic models for the abbreviated approval pathway and are therefore more cost effective to produce.

Next time you go to the pharmacy, talk to your pharmacist about how generic and biosimilar medications could be an option and save you money.

Tags
medication
generic

You may also be interested in:

Gettyimages 1004923616
Prevention & Wellness
Aug 2, 2018

What You Need to Know About Drug Recalls

Here's what to do in the event that a medication you are taking has been recalled.
By Deborah Simonson, Pharm.D.
Pharmacist With Pill Bottle Scaled 2
Prevention & Wellness
Oct 17, 2017

Little-Known Ways Pharmacists Can Help You Stay Healthy

October 15-21 is National Pharmacy Week when we recognize the incredible work of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians.
Gettyimages 669121480
Prevention & Wellness
Nov 13, 2018

Everything You Need to Know About Antibiotics

Four members of Ochsner's Antimicrobial Stewardship Program weigh in about antibiotic usage as well as what patients need to know about these medications.
By Katherine Baumgarten, MD

Comments about the blog? Send us an email!

Ochsner Health Ochsner Health

Schedule An Appointment: 1-866-624-7637

Follow us: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Pinterest

Healthy living tips, delivered weekly to your inbox.

Patients & Visitors

  • Billing & Financial Services
  • Insurance Information
  • International Patients
  • Request Medical Records
  • Share Your Story
  • Read Patient Stories

Medical Professionals

  • Transfer a Patient
  • Refer a Patient

Health Resources

  • To Your Health Blog
  • Golden Opportunity
  • Hello Health Seminars
  • Ochsner Magazine

Job Seekers

  • Career Paths
  • Benefits
  • Open Positions

Employees

  • Webmail
  • OHSLink
  • Workday

Employers

  • Corporate Wellness
  • Medicare Advantage Plans

Community Outreach

  • Classes & Events
  • Programs
  • Community Health Needs Assessment
  • Dr. John Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy

Education

  • Graduate Medical Education
  • Clinical Medical Education
  • Continuing Medical Education
  • Medical Library
  • Publishing Services
  • Medical Illustrations

Research

  • Clinical Trials
  • Applied Health Services Research
  • Clinical Research & Trials
  • Nursing Research
  • Translational Research

Giving

  • Donate
  • Volunteer

About Ochsner

  • Mission & Vision
  • History
  • Annual Report
  • Outcomes & Honors
  • News & Media
  • Alumni
  • Ochsner Health Network
  • Contact Us

Shop

  • O Bar
  • Optical Shop
  • Ochsner Fitness Center
  • Brent House Hotel

© Ochsner Health  | Notice of Privacy Practices | Terms of Use | Vendor Information

Ochsner accepts all major insurances.

Ochsner is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, founded on providing the best patient care, research, and education.

We are one of the country’s largest non-university based academic medical centers.

Ochsner is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

Community Needs Health Assessment

EpicMobile Tablet | EpicMobile Phone

Healthy Living Tips, Delivered Right To Your Inbox

* indicates required


Must Reads
Food and Fitness
Men’s Health
Parenting
Women’s Health

Source:
Source Description:
Marketing Goal:


Get Weekly Health Tips

Select the weekly newsletters you'd like to receive.

Please select at least one category to continue.

Curious about our newsletters?

View details for each edition

Let us know where to send your weekly newsletters.

To Your Health- Food and Fitness:
To Your Health- General:
To Your Health- Men’s Health:
To Your Health- Parenting:
To Your Health- Women’s Health:

Source:
Source Description:
Marketing Goal:

You're all set!

We’ll send newsletters full of healthy living tips right to your inbox every week.

Ochsner Health System
ESC to Close

Begin Typing to Search

Select the drop-down to filter Search by Blog Articles or Sitewide