[thewomanwithin67]

Thanks Susan...since I was told this Friday; I have found so much information about brand vs generic. I always thought they were the same and asked my dr why and he explained to me.

Here's another way of thinking about it; alittle easier to comprehend than the medical jargon they have on the FDA website:

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all drugs, whether a brand name drug or a generic drug, meet standards of safety, strength, purity and effectiveness

A drug may be chemically exact but not bioequivalent.

In other words, two different products of the same drug may not get into the body in exactly the same way.

Bioequivalence depends on how the drug is formulated and how it is absorbed and eliminated by the body.

Other ingredients can affect the absorption of the drug. These include starch fillers, gum-like substances and other products which allow a drug to be formulated into a pill or capsule.

Factors such as a person's age, body mass, kidney, liver and intestinal function can also affect the absorption of the drug by the body.

The human body is always changing, and factors such as diet, metabolic rate and hormones can affect how a drug acts in the body.

For the most part, these changes are not cause for alarm, but it is important to realize that a person may try the same brand or generic medication and have a different experience at different times.

However, in most instances, the generic and brand name drugs are both working in the body.

To summarize, generic drugs, if they have been approved by the FDA, are as safe and effective as the brand name product.

Wow I wonder how true this is?
This is from drugs.com:
Why you sometimes have problems with Generic Drugs
Some people have disagreed with me when I explained about the 20% plus or minus difference that the FDA allows for generic drugs, some have insisted this was only for the inactive ingredients.

I have done some more research on this subject, and NO! the 20% difference IS NOTjust limited to the inactive ingredients.

Here's an article with some information, and the name of the law that allows this:

http://counsellingresource.com/medic.../generics.html

Are There Any Differences Between Generics and Brand-Name Drugs?

...it should be noted that current regulations permit a variation of up to 20% either way in the bioavailability of the active ingredient.

(See this Food and Drug Law Institute overview of the Hatch-Waxman Act of 1999.)

In one study (Borgheini 2003), a 31% variation was found in the blood plasma levels of a particular medication after a patient switched from a branded to a generic product.

(Why does this happen? It may be accounted for by differences in the manufacturing process yielding different particle sizes that are absorbed at different rates, as well as other factors.)

So yes, this gives them a leeway of 40% on manufacturing these drugs, they can be significantly different than their name brand counterparts, and in some cases the effect can mean a drug doesn't work at all, or may have too much of the active ingredient, resulting in serious effects or even fatalities!

Here's the overview of the law in question that allows these differences:

http://www.fdli.org/pubs/Journal%20Online/54_2/art2.pdf

For some of you, I know this will be a relief as you can now know for sure that if a generic seems to work different, it is not all in your head. Simply said, poor quality control and poor testing, means poorly made drugs from some companies.

[Ian]

TheWomanWithin, I apologize for saying Adipex was the same thing. I should have said that it uses the same active ingredients as Phentermine, but it supposed to be released over the day more evenly. Didn't mean to mislead anyone...

[thewomanwithin67]

No problem Ian , sorry if this went on a tangent and seemed directed to your comment. The pharmacist at a WalMart here said the exact same thing you did and asked me why would I want to pay double for the SAME thing?

I asked him if they were the SAME thing why would there be brand names and generics - he couldn't tell me why rotfl which is disturbing.

When I am told something I have to research and find for myself the pros, cons and side effects of things.

I started with the FDA and went from there about generics. Luckily I only lost $21.98 and learned a valuable lesson - you can't always trust your Doctor or Pharmacist.

I was honestly quite shocked to find the 20% variable on generic drug ingredients - this is reported in many places. We don't get many prescriptions filled, so I'm quite naive about protocol and procedures like WalMart substituting generics for brands unless requested....now I know I will be prepared for 2 weeks and my next script..

Knowledge is power

btw...I forgot to add - 6lbs in 2 1/2 days; which is what I lost in 3 weeks when I first started Phen back in August.

[squeekie]

Womanwithin- Thank you for all the great information and Congratulations on your recent weight loss! 6lbs.in 2 1/2 days is amazing...you must be so pleased. Once again that old saying 'you get what you pay for' is true.

[Ian]

Awesome job on your weight loss, WomanWithin. 6lbs is great. Oh and....

When I am told something I have to research and find for myself the pros, cons and side effects of things.

...that's a really good trait. Being resourceful is what gets things done.

[nylon]

So take out all the scientific lingo..........there is a difference between generic and brand BUT......there are also a lot of variables (e.g. person's metabolism, age, weight, etc.) that decide the difference to according to what I have read above. Phew........glad that's all figured out.

[thewomanwithin67]

yeah Nylon I know what you mean - that's why we consumers are mostly out of the loop; because they put things in perspective of THEIR terms so we are confused....and they slip all that crap by us and we believe what they want us to believe....

There were a few places I researched that had something other than "medical jargon" and I tried to include that in part of the research.

Oh Ian...that's part of my inane nature - I was a Paralegal for a few years and had some stickler attorneys I worked with that made me this way...or maybe I'm just weird....