Understanding Generic and Branded Medicines
Prescription drugs can become pricey, buying generic drugs can be the way to save money. This article will give the information about Generic and branded drugs. All the possible views are explained in this article.
Difference between Branded medicine and Generic medicine:
Many pharmaceutical companies do the research and develop the medicines for different diseases and illness. It requires a long period to develop medicines, after development these medicines are tested into the test laboratories for their quality, performance characteristics and dosage form as defined by the authorities in the various countries. Once the testing of these medicines is completed, pharmaceutical companies patent these medicines and do the branding of developed medicines. After patenting process the prices of the medicines are defined by the company and distributed for the use. As these medicines are developed and circulated by a particular company under a specific brand, they are called as branded medicines.
The generic medicines are defined as the drug products which are identical in quality, performance characteristics, dosage form and intended use to that of the branded medicines. These medicines are generally marketed under their chemical name produced by any pharmaceutical company rather than a brand. They are produced and distributed according to the regulations of the governing countries where they are being distributed. They are not associated with any particular company. The generic medicines must contain the same active ingredients as that of the original branded formulation.Why the cost difference between branded and generic medicines?
As we discussed, pharmaceutical companies do research to develop the medicines and test it into the laboratories for qualities and other properties before distribution. These companies get patent for their each medicine or composition they develop and define the cost of medicine for distributing. The cost of medicine is defined in such a way that, with the volume production of these medicines the production cost, development cost and the testing cost along with profit can be recovered. As these medicines are patented by particular company, only that company can sell it into the market creating the monopoly.
Where as in generic medicines there is no development or testing cost involved. These medicines are produced with the reverse engineering process or are produced as per the branded medicines composition. So they involve only the production cost and the profit over it. This is the reason the generic medicines are cheaper by 10% to 40% than the branded medicines. There is no monopoly in this area; various companies can produce these medicines with same composition.
Government has specified the duration of the patented medicines, during this period only the company owning the patent can produce the particular medicines. No other company is allowed to manufacture the patented composition. Once these patents duration expires, the branded companies give license to the other manufacturers to produce these medicines which become the generic medicines.Scenario of Indian pharmaceutical industry:
India is the largest drug manufacturing country around the world, ranked 3rd in terms of volume productions of the medicines and 14th in terms of value. India is also one of the top 10 global pharmaceutical sales industries in the world. Indian pharmaceutical industry is mainly dominated and controlled by the foreign industries. They do the development in India due to the cheap labor cost.
Foreign countries had major share in Indian pharmaceutical industry. To encourage the growth in the pharmaceutical industry, government of India introduced the Patent act in 1970, allowing the companies to hold the patent for a span of 7 years. However to improve the economical growth the government of India removed this patents from act in 1990's and shortened the period to 5 years. This decision of reducing the span of patented medicines helped Indian manufacturers to grow in the domestic as well as export market. Some of the companies like Cipla, Piramal healthcare, Sun, Ranbaxy are major pharmaceutical firms in India.
The cost comparison between the branded and generic medicines develops a good competition in the market. Whereas the changes in the patent strategies forces the foreign companies to narrow their focus on introducing the new development as they hold very low share.
So, for economical growth in the domestic as well as export market the branded companies must have the patent brands, and for consumers the medicines must be in generic form with low cost rather than the branded one. Doctors need to give the generic medicines in prescription to the patient, so the cost for the medicine will become low.Generic Medical stores list in Pune, Maharashtra:
1)Mitra Medical: Mitra Mandal colony, Parvati, Pune
2)Ashvini Medical: 986, shukravar peth, Pune
3)Gangadhar Medical: Near Omkareshwar temple, Shanivar peth, Pune
4)Niranjan Medico: 556, Narayan Peth, Pune
5)Raj Medical: Parihar chawk, Aundh, pune
6)M.K. medicals: In front of Pune University, Ganeshkhind road, Pune.
I will update the Generic medical store list for other cities in future.
