Generic Drugs

[fraser]

We don't take many prescriptions, in fact the only one is for DW.

So, we went to Costco Pharmacy to get it renewed. The Pharmacist looked at the renewal and told us that there was now a generic available-exactly the same- and did we want it. Yes of course we did. The price went down from $1.13 per pill to .36 per pill. Very convenient since we had just emptied our HSA entitlement and had to pay this ourselves.

We were very pleased that the pharmacist mentioned this to us as I suspect that they make higher margins on the name brands.

[Cal]

Generally this will be the case until the drug patent expires.

[Toronto.gal]

Generics will become more profitable than brand name drugs as the latter, as Cal mentioned, lose patent protection. Recent examples:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...449596184.html

I personally would not have switched drugs without first asking my doctor. And btw, it's typical for pharmacists to pose that question, so I wouldn't give them any credits for that.

[fraser]

DW has a medical background. The generic has the exact composition of the patent. No issue. Had it not, we would definately had consulted the physician.

[Young&Ambitious]

I actually have always gone for the generic brand until I spoke with the bf's brother who is in this business on the science side. He was saying that he could not believe the non-quality or low-quality crap that goes into the cheaper drugs in order to allow them to be cheap and advised not to buy no-name or low price necessarily.

Cautionary takeaways:
a. Price = quality; and
b. Copycats may not mimic 100% the patented version.

[andrewf]

^ That's hard to believe.

Price != quality-- at least not necessarily. You're paying for marketing and development costs with name brand drugs--who is to say there is any difference in marginal production cost of the drug itself.

The recent change in regulations in Ontario have changed the incentives quite a bit for pharmacies. They used to earn a significant part of the operating income from what were essentially kickbacks from drug companies. I personally think that drugs should flow through pharmacies at manufacturer cost, and the cost of running the pharmacy paid out of dispensing fees.

[Toronto.gal]

Here are some 'facts':

http://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesfo.../ucm167991.htm

[andrewf]

Thanks, T.gal. Good find.

[MoneyGal]

Canadian version on the same topic (i.e., bioequivalence):

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hl-vs/iyh-vsv...ed-gen-eng.php

[MoneyGal]

I took an *entire class* in grad school on generic drug policy and manufacturing patents (in the context of Canadian manufacturing and public policy). It was really, really eye-opening.