Pros and Cons of Brand Name & Generic Prescriptions
With the current temperature we are experiencing now you will not be surprised if many members of your family will be sick. The weather now is too cold on early mornings and evenings and too hot on daytime. This kind of temperature is very susceptible to coughs, colds and fever especially to children. I’ve heard some of friends were complaining that all members of their family are down with coughs. It’s not only tiring and costly to have sickness in your homes but it’s also an emotional let down to see your family in pain. We all know that remedy for coughs vary in intensity and what causes it. When you go to your doctor you’ll be prescribed with medicines with generic name and their suggested brand for the patient. It’s a standard procedure and guidelines for doctor to supply the generic name of the medicine just in case the patient can’t afford the price of the branded medicine or worst if the medicine is out of stock.
The first thing that comes to our mind when we heard of generic drugs is the price that reaches out to those who can’t afford to buy expensive brand name ones. Now that recession has hit many countries people seek for less expensive things. I myself buy generic drug sometimes if the doctor advised that generic medicines will do. There are some differences in having brand name and generic prescriptions. First and the most significant I think is the price which we all know that generic costs almost half the price of the branded ones. Next is the flavor which is not so obvious to others, I just noticed that branded medicines have more appealing flavors to kids than generic medicines. Well of course this is just a minor thing compared to affordability the generic prescription offers.
Generally these prescription medicines have the same ingredients, quality, content, purity, strength, stability and both passed the standard requirements of the FDA. I should say that having brand name medicines is beneficial for those patients who want to have the same brand every time they developed the same sickness. Some have allergies for other drugs so if their bodies perfectly adapts to a certain brand they want to have it over again. They don’t want to experiment again on the effects the medicines might have on their health thus maintaining the same brands served the purpose. Anyway not all people depend on the price of the medicines. There are some who doesn’t care about the price as long as the medicines will cure their sickness as soon as possible.
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