Generic Versus Brand Name Medication Safety Concerns

The controversy about name brand medication versus generics has been around for years and can be best summed up by the case of Synthroid. This is a name brand medication that supplements your body's inability to produce thyroid hormone. This is an essential hormone, because it runs the engine of your body, your metabolism. Without it, you will feel tired, moody, and unable to concentrate. Long term it can lead to heart attack, stroke and osteoporosis.

For years, the manufacturer of Synthroid claimed that the generic, L-thyroid and was unreliable, and the dosage per pill varied, meaning that one pill contained either a little more or a little less. This would lead to wide variations in your energy, mood, etc. They claimed the name brand medication did not have those fluctuations. In 1997, The Journal of the American medical society found there were no differences between the generic and the name brand. The company had been promoting the differences for over 40 years and the public had lost millions of dollars paying for a brand name medication.

Despite this example, people still have the same concerns about generic medications as before:

1. Generic medications are not safe. 7 out of 10 prescriptions filled in the US are for generic medication. With millions of prescriptions filled each year, there have been almost no reported cases of adverse incidences, just side effects that you would get if you took the name brand.

2. Generic medications are not as potent or contain a variable amount of medication. According to the FDA's website, manufacturer of generic medication are held to the same standard as the manufacturer of brand name medications, meaning that there must be the same amount of active drug in each pill and must be produced to the same standards.

3. Generic medication cost anywhere from 50 to 100 percent less, they are not as effective. Well I can tell you that the money you are saving is the same money the brand name company is using to market to doctors like me to prescribe the brand name drug.

So bottom line, this controversy about generic medication versus brand name has been around for years. Drug companies play to your fears and want you to spend more for the brand name. Don't give in, especially in today's economic climate, Save your money, get the generic.