Useful but not without shadows. Generics, cheaper and supported in public health systems, are at the center of a report published by the French Academy of Medicine which analyzes the pros and cons of these products in prescription, in a country where the market for 'unpatented' products has grown rapidly in recent years but which in 2011 suffered a slight decrease.
"Generics – explains Charles-Joël Menkès, author of the report – reduce health costs. But in the current context of distrust towards the drug (in France there have been scandals linked to the safety of medicines ed.) we must be vigilant". And it is therefore important "to recognize the problems that can be related to generics". These medicines are not, according to the Report, "a certified copy of the original specialty. But they are subjected to the same degree required by the authorities of the reference specialties".
And while containing the same quantities of active ingredient, the generic - it should be remembered - can be produced with different excipients, which therefore can also cause allergic reactions. It can change the presentation – tablets instead of capsules – and this can be confusing for some types of patients, such as the elderly.
The French academics then underline, with practical examples, that "the bioequivalence between the reference product and the generic does not automatically represent therapeutic equivalence, particularly in the case of the substitution of one generic for another".
Raffaella Ammirati – February 27, 2012 – PharmaKronos
