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It is proved now that branded drugs (BDs) are not superior to the generic drugs (GDs) by the research study conducted by the scientists working at the Harvard Medical School, Boston. It was always a question in the mind of the patients as well as in the minds of the doctors whether to go for generic or not? Thus, a study was conducted to know whether branded drugs are superior or not. The study was conducted in the duration of 1 year. The study included the prescription of the branded drugs and of the generic drugs to the patients visiting the hospital for the clinical aid. The equal numbers of patients were given the generic drugs and the branded drugs.
The study was conducted in each and every department of the Hospital that included cardiovascular department, kidney disorders department, liver problems department, sexual health department, pediatrics department, etc. The patients from the each department were given the doses of the branded drugs and of the generic drugs. As the first step, the researchers assessed the clinical differences resulting from the use of generics or brand-name drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease, and conducted a meta-analysis on studies on this subject. The same analysis was conducted in each and every department to know the differences in the effectiveness of the generic drugs and the branded drugs. The study was based on the following criteria like time required by generic drug or branded drug to treat the patients, the side effects if any noted in the patients, and the dosage of the drug given to the patient.
During the study it was noted that the time taken by the patients to recover from the particular disease was same when treated with the either generic drugs or branded drugs. In all the departments the time of recovery from the branded drugs and the generic drugs was noted. The time required for the recovery was found to same when the patient took generic drug or the branded drug. Thus the effectiveness of the generic drug was observed to be similar to the branded drug. Then in the next part of the study the side effects observed were noted. It was found that the side effects shown by the generic drugs and the branded drugs are same. Sometimes the side effects shown by the branded drugs were more, but the side effects shown by the generic drugs were always minimal.
The study showed that generic drugs were exact replicas of the branded drugs. The study clearly mentioned that the branded drugs were no way superior to the generic drugs. The doctors who undertook the study mentioned that it is up to the patients that which drug they should use, whether generic or branded, because both are equally effective. The patients can go for the generic drugs if they want to get the excellent quality at the cheapest possible rate. Doctors explained that generic drugs may differ in terms of color or shape of the pill as well as some of the inert binders, but contain the same ingredients as their brand-name drugs but it cost far lesser than branded drugs. A generic drug is one that is identified by its chemical name and distributed without patent protection.
Generic drugs are available in the market for all the medical conditions. But, due to the myths like generic drugs are of inferior quality, the patients were not purchasing the generic drugs. The truth is that generic drugs are specifically manufactured by taking in consideration the need of the common man. The huge advantage of generic drugs is that they costs anywhere from 30% to 80% less than branded drugs. Thus, branded drugs are not superior of the generic drugs, but they are exact copies of each other.