[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by BarryRX

As a pharmacist who has worked in both generic and name brand pharmaceutical manufacturing, I would like to address some of the concerns posted here. It is absolutely true that generic drugs contain "fillers", but so do the brand drugs. To use aspirin as an example, an aspirin tablet contains the active drug (acetylsalicylic acid), but also will contain a lubricant to help the powders flow through the tablet compression machines, a "binder" to help hold the tablet together after it is compressed, and an "expander" to help the compressed tablet break apart and dissolve in your body. While it is possible that you may be allergic to one of these excipients in the generic drug, it is just as possible you may be allergic to the excipients in the brand and not the generic. Fr those referring to generics as inferior, the generics are proven to contain the same active ingredient, dissolve in the body the same way, have the same bioavailability as he brand. The companies that manufacture generics must meet the exact same quality conditions as the brand companies. This legal requirement extends to the labeling that generic drugs use. An important part of the labeling is the patient package insert (ppi) that lists among other things, any side effects that may occur. It appears that in the Supreme Court case being discussed,the name brand company did not have this particular side effect listed. Since the generic company is legally required to have identical labeling, they also did not list this side effect. It seems to me that all the court did was to rule that the generic company was not liable for not doing something they were not allowed to do anyway. I would think that the plaintiff could probably still sue the brand company for not listing the side effect on their original ppi. For those that think this ruling is a reason to not use generic drugs, please consider taking a generic chill pill.

I think we're very lucky on TOTV to have professionals like Barry who are so knowledgeable and willing to take the time to educate the rest of us. Thank you Barry!