Word: genericizing
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...Congress is breaking down the barrier. The House last week unanimously passed a bill, almost identical to one already adopted by the Senate, that will speed up approvals of generic drugs by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In the past, companies wishing to sell generic versions of drugs marketed after 1962 had to submit detailed scientific studies to demonstrate the pills' safety and effectiveness, even though they were merely copies of medicines already being sold. Under the new law, firms need only show that their generic pills are the chemical equivalents of brand-name drugs and deliver...
That trend should produce dramatic savings for consumers−potentially $1 billion over the next twelve years, according to the FDA. Generic drugs already on the market usually cost much less than their brand-name counterparts. At one Dallas pharmacy last week, customers had to pay $8.79 for 20 tablets of Lomotil, an antidiarrhea pill made by G.D. Searle. But the same amount of medication was available under its generic name, diphenoxylate, for only $3.29. In one New York City drugstore, a medicine for high blood pressure made by Ciba-Geigy called Apresoline cost $15 per 100 tablets; its generic...
...drug is given a generic name by a unit of the American Medical Association. That name reflects the drug's chemical properties and is often a tongue twister. The company marketing the medication usually gives it a short, snappy brand name that doctors and patients can remember. Hoffmann-La Roche, for example, developed a tranquilizer with the generic name chlordiazepoxide, but sells it as Librium...
...drug companies encourage skepticism among doctors and pharmacists about the quality of some generic products. Sandoz last year ran an ad in the American Druggist magazine for the tranquilizer Mellaril. It showed an elderly woman with an alarmed look on her face. In her hand was a vial that apparently contained a generic imitation of Mellaril. The text implied that a switch to a generic version of Mellaril could cause increased side effects, including symptoms similar to those of Parkinson's disease. The FDA said that the claims in the ad were false and ordered Sandoz to withdraw...
...which has three top-selling drugs that lose their patents this year, has been sponsoring a ten-city lecture tour by Paul Doering, an associate professor of pharmacy practice at the University of Florida. At pharmacists' meetings and in television appearances, Doering has been spreading the word that generic drugs may not be as good as brand-name products. Says he: "I believe that drugs are far too important to be considered just another commodity...