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  • AADD Moderators: swilow | Vagabond696

Drug companies with generics

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Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 15, 2002
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Probably a simple answer here but im interested to know why the same drug comapany bring out the exact same product under a different brand name.

An example of is is panadol. Made by Sanofi Aventis the tablets contain 500mg paracetamol. Sanofi Aventis also make panamax which also contains 500mg of paracetamol which is the cheaper brand. The tablets are identical.

I can understand them bringing out a cheaper option for those say on a concession, but all companies are about pofit at the end of the day and these different branded names are available to anyone, so yeh just wondering what thats all about.

Cheers
 
Wikipedia said:
A generic drug (pl. generic drugs, short: generics) is a drug which is bioequivalent to a brand name drug with respect to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties. These drugs are usually sold at a lower price than the brand name drug. Generic medicines must contain the same active ingredient at the same strength as the "innovator" brand, be bioequivalent, and are required to meet the same pharmacopoeial requirements for the preparation. By extension, therefore, generics are assumed to be identical in dose, strength, route of administration, safety, efficacy, and intended use.

Reasons for cheaper price

The principal reason for the reduced price of generic medicines is that these companies incur less costs in creating the generic drug and are therefore able to offer a lower price and still maintain profitability.

Manufacturers of generic drugs are mainly able to avoid the following three costs that brand name pharmaceutical companies incur: (1) costs associated with the research and development of the drug; (2) costs associated with the navigating governmental bureaucracy for getting a drug onto the market as safe and effective; and (3) marketing costs.

Wikipedia - Generic drug

The link below from Pfizer gives a little info also.

Hope this helps. :)

Pat the Pill Explains Generic Drugs
 
Im probably missing something cos ive had a couple of drinks, but another example is:

Valium and ducene. Both diazepam made by roche.

The tablets are identical, there is no way of telling which is which other than the packaging. Even the blister pack in its unique shape is identical, the only difference is the silver backing has ducene rather than valium on it.

Same company, same pill, same packaging with a different name.
 
i'm not quite following -- are you asking why it is that a company will sell both a well-known brand, in addition to a cheaper "no frills" generic i.e. have two products out for the same drug.

re different names, i think the name of the prescription drug varies from country to country, not quite sure why though. for instance, the anti-narcoleptic drug modafinil is sold as modavigil here, but modalert, provigil and alertec elsewhere.
 
The "valium" brand is a white box with a blue diamond type shape on it

The "ducene" brand comes in a white and green box

When you open either pack the blister packs are identical, and the pills themselves are identical both in colour, size, and both branded roche.

As i said you cant tell the difference between the actual pills so they obviously are manufactured in the same place and id say packeged in the same place.

Both in australia, so my question is why that is..
 
Generic names are typically non-proprietary names. Drugs can be described by the full (chemical) name, the generic name, or by a brand name.

Its quite common for generic companies to also produce drugs for the original patent holders. Sometimes the generic producer also markets the same product under the generic name, so as to provide a means to effectively market the company name.

The reasons why this is done relate purely to economics. e.g. Roche farms out production to company X who can competitively produce the drug. In agreement with Roche, product destined for Roche is labeled as a Roche's own product. Also in agreement, the company is able to market (label) the drug as it's own. Economics probably plays a part in why the inner packaging is the same, but it's likely to be done prmarily to help avoid panic by some patients who may otherwise think they have the wrong medication i.e. uniformity = complacence

Generic medicines are usually only seen where the patents on the original drug formulation, structure, applications etc have elapsed. If a particular drug has been very expensive to develop, the patent will often be extended so the company can retrieve more of the development costs. Generic equivalents are usually not available during this period.
 
this is a little over my head. all i want is something to take away that fukn headache, or kill the hayfever. if it does that, :) two thumbs up
 
It's about market share.

A market exists for a certain drug, say paracetamol. There are some people who will always go for the brand name, so they buy panadol.

Then there are others who will always go for the cheaper alternative, so they buy panamax.

By producing both the brand name and the cheaper alternative, the same company gets profits from both groups. As someone already mentioned, since the company makes so much of the drug, they can produce it very cheaply and still make a profit from the cheaper alternative.

So the same company then has both parts of the market: those who will go for the brand name and those who will go for the cheaper alternative. If they didn't make the alternative someone else would and they would lose profits and market share.

Companies in all sectors of the economy do this. It's all about market share. Coke makes coke, sprite, fruitopia juices, spring valley sparkling flavoured mineral water, mount franklin water...all to keep market share. The differences between these drinks are tiny...the only difference is the packaging (in the case of drugs) and a tiny bit of flavouring (in the case of coke drinks).

Another great example is eggs. A market exists for both cage and free range eggs. Often, people who make cage eggs also make free range eggs to capture both parts of the market (Pace farms does this, amongst others). So if you really don't want to support cage eggs, make sure you buy a brand of eggs that doesn't also make cage eggs!

And a little further ramble for those who are interested...

It's interesting to keep in mind that for a company the most efficient way of doing things would be to only produce one product. That way you specialise in only one thing and can make heaps of that one thing very very cheaply. The only reason companies don't do this is because the greater market share that they can keep by diversifying more than makes up for the lack of efficiency. Go to your supermarket if you like and actually look on the back of packets to see who really owns what. You think you're making informed decisions between companies when really they could all be owned eventually by the same company. You'd be amazed what phillip morriss, the cigarette company really owns.
 
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