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Smart people buy generics over brand names

momhappy

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To say that name brands and generics are exactly the same is not entirely true. The active ingredients may be the same, but the inactive ingredients (like fillers, additives, etc.) may be different. My pharmacist once gave me the generic for one of my regular prescriptions and I had some minor reactions to the generic that I didn't have with the brand name, so I switched back to the name brand.
 

msop04

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momhappy|1406503757|3721653 said:
To say that name brands and generics are exactly the same is not entirely true. The active ingredients may be the same, but the inactive ingredients (like fillers, additives, etc.) may be different. My pharmacist once gave me the generic for one of my regular prescriptions and I had some minor reactions to the generic that I didn't have with the brand name, so I switched back to the name brand.

I don't believe I read where anyone has stated they were the exactly same... in fact, several (including myself) have mentioned the differences between them. :))
 

Laila619

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I buy Target's brand (Up & Up) for a lot of stuff, like toilet paper, tissues, band aids, paper towels, baby wipes, diapers, medicines, cleaning supplies, packing tape, etc. and it's all been excellent. Really good products IMO. Plus I love saving money!!
 

Karl_K

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one thing I refuse to buy generic is tp, life is too short to use cheap tp!
 

msop04

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SparklyOEC|1406500206|3721634 said:
JewelFreak|1406374978|3720938 said:
Aspirin is one thing, more complex meds another. My cousin was a leading neurologist specializing in the most severe cases of epilepsy; he saw only patients whom other doctors had given up on. He said he found generics very inconsistent & unreliable -- he felt quality control wasn't quite as strict. One generic might make a patient jazzed up & twitchy & unable to be still, one from another compnay made the same person half-zombie. An extra atom on a molecule could make the effect of the drug completely different. So his experiences led him to use only brand-name meds on his patients.

For common stuff & foods, generics are worth trying. I'm more careful when it's something complicated & delicate.

--- Laurie
From personal experience, I know this to be true. My son has had epilepsy since he was 6, and medicine resistant until his neurologist wrote prescriptions for brand name only way back then. He's 18 now, and we finally found a generic that works, but we have to special-order it every month. And the pharmacy doesn't make that easy!

Most other things that are not as *important* to me, I will definitely buy a generic.

It's all about how the patient responds. Your son may do great with the brand, while another pt can only get results with a certain generic manufacturer. Thankfully, your son has found one to which he's responded well. :D

Brand doesn't equate to "better" -- some will be better, some not so much -- it is all dependent on the patient, and every patient is different. One person's experiences may be entirely different from another's... However, it really doesn't matter, as long as it works!

SparklyOEC, just out of curiosity, would you mind elaborating on how you feel your pharmacy made it difficult for you to get your son's medicine? Was it out of stock, on back order, etc? I'm always interested to hear the patient's perspective... maybe your feedback can help me in giving my patients a more positive experience. :wavey:
 

msop04

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momhappy|1406503757|3721653 said:
To say that name brands and generics are exactly the same is not entirely true. The active ingredients may be the same, but the inactive ingredients (like fillers, additives, etc.) may be different. My pharmacist once gave me the generic for one of my regular prescriptions and I had some minor reactions to the generic that I didn't have with the brand name, so I switched back to the name brand.


Another thing to realize is that pharmacists don't take it upon themselves to dispense brand or generic... it's because the physician has written the prescription that way. If the doctor signs "product selction permitted," it will automatically be filled for the generic unless specified by the patient. However, if the doc signs "dispense as written," the pharmacist may not switch to generic even it the patient requests it.
 

Sky56

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I buy generics but two things I buy name brand are contact lens saline solution and dishwasher detergent. I definitely noticed big differences in quality. Toilet paper - Scott's regular. All other brands the rolls annoyingly last only a few days. I'll know more about Costco soon. I'm moving temporarily to a place with one and I'll join.
 

missy

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Sky56|1406535553|3721806 said:
I buy generics but two things I buy name brand are contact lens saline solution and dishwasher detergent. I definitely noticed big differences in quality. Toilet paper - Scott's regular. All other brands the rolls annoyingly last only a few days. I'll know more about Costco soon. I'm moving temporarily to a place with one and I'll join.

Oh Sky, I hope you love Costco! I think it is one of my favorite stores! It doesn't have everything but it has a lot of good stuff and once you figure out what you like and what you can save on you can go to town there. Enjoy and let us know what you think. :appl:
 

msop04

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Sky56|1406535553|3721806 said:
I buy generics but two things I buy name brand are contact lens saline solution and dishwasher detergent. I definitely noticed big differences in quality. Toilet paper - Scott's regular. All other brands the rolls annoyingly last only a few days. I'll know more about Costco soon. I'm moving temporarily to a place with one and I'll join.

Isn't it funny how most people want name brand TP?? :bigsmile:
 

vc10um

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kenny|1406385216|3720974 said:
LaraOnline|1406371707|3720929 said:
I worry that buying generics reduces the rewards for costly research (due to the short shelf-life of the medical patents), thereby limiting the development of new drugs. ???

Pharmaceutical companies make plenty of money while their patent and exclusivity periods.
Source: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm079031.htm
SNIP: Patents expire 20 years from the date of filing. Many other factors can affect the duration of a patent.

They know this going in.
After 20 years every child of the Pharmaceutical corporation has one Porsche in every hue of the rainbow.

Just as a note on this...yes, patents expire 20 years from the date of filing. But the FDA approval process can take much longer than the patent process. So while the drug may receive a patent 5-7 years into its 20 years of protection it can't yet be sold because it may take 12 or even 15 years to get through the FDA trials processes. That gives drug companies roughly 5-8 years or of exclusivity before generic brands hit the market.
 

kenny

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Sky56|1406535553|3721806 said:
Toilet paper - Scott's regular. All other brands the rolls annoyingly last only a few days. I'll know more about Costco soon. I'm moving temporarily to a place with one and I'll join.

Sometimes I still buy generic even when I know a brand name is 'better' because I also factor in cost/value and whether what makes the brand-name product better even matters to me.

For instance there is nothing special about how long one roll of TP lasts.
Since length of paper on rolls vary, how often you have to change rolls is not a measure of price.

What matters is cost per quantity or linear or square footage of the whole package.
Some rolls are longer than others but if they cost more PER SHEET then they are a worse value.
I will stand there in the store and calculate price per unit of competing products ... even my cheapo $9.95 cellphone has a calculator in it.

Of course with TP there are other properties to consider like thickness, strength and softness and I guess some people want a fragrance down there.
Even though I know brand names likely are 'better' than Costco's generic TP I still buy Costco's.
I just choose to buy what's cheapest per use over what is probably softer and thicker or which ones put more paper on each roll.

My @ss is just not that special. :lol:
YAMV.
 

kenny

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Karl_K|1406515111|3721739 said:
one thing I refuse to buy generic is tp, life is too short to use cheap tp!

Karl, I guess your @ss is ... special. :sun:
I guess my life is long enough to use cheap TP. :lol:
I'd rather save my money for something that matters more to me. ;-)
 

ruby59

Ideal_Rock
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Feb 5, 2004
Messages
3,553
vc10um|1406572909|3722032 said:
kenny|1406385216|3720974 said:
LaraOnline|1406371707|3720929 said:
I worry that buying generics reduces the rewards for costly research (due to the short shelf-life of the medical patents), thereby limiting the development of new drugs. ???

Pharmaceutical companies make plenty of money while their patent and exclusivity periods.
Source: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm079031.htm
SNIP: Patents expire 20 years from the date of filing. Many other factors can affect the duration of a patent.

They know this going in.
After 20 years every child of the Pharmaceutical corporation has one Porsche in every hue of the rainbow.

Just as a note on this...yes, patents expire 20 years from the date of filing. But the FDA approval process can take much longer than the patent process. So while the drug may receive a patent 5-7 years into its 20 years of protection it can't yet be sold because it may take 12 or even 15 years to get through the FDA trials processes. That gives drug companies roughly 5-8 years or of exclusivity before generic brands hit the market.


No one tried to hold on to their exclusivity better than Lipitor. I remember when their patent was running out and the generics were coming on the market, it was actually cheaper to buy the brand name for a while as they tried to hold on to the market.

My doctor's office was loaded with samples giving it away for free.
 

Sky56

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Feb 27, 2010
Messages
1,040
I visited Costco and bought stuff about 15 times over the years when shopping with friends who are members. I couldn't justify joining it when there's no Costco in my town. They finally put one in the next town to us, a 25 minute drive from here, but I still didn't want to join. With the temporary move lasting two or three years, and the Costco being nearby where we live, I'm joining. I can't wait to buy those giant bags of frozen berries and other goodies.

Toilet paper factoid I learned the hard way. NEVER leave a roll of toilet paper in an RV that is just sitting around unused because your RV vacation is a few months away. Rodents love it. They'll pull apart the roll and use it to make nests in your RV. Yuk! And another thing that men don't often realize: with women, the ass doesn't get wiped much in comparison to the other part. A non-long lasting roll is so annoying! :dance:
 

perry

Ideal_Rock
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Sep 19, 2004
Messages
2,547
I'm not sure Costco is quite as good as stated here; but, that does not mean they do not have consistent products.

Onto the subject:

Certainly for certain things generics make a lot of sense. Aspirin and other common old OTC medications.

Certainly location of manufacturer is important too. There are nations I trust: Canada, Japan, England; and nations I do not trust: China, India, Turkey (has anyone noticed how many "European" generics are from Turkey).

Certainly, different people react differently to some of the fillers used. I have one case where I reacted to the name brand fillers - and we found a generic that I did not react to. So that is a case of figuring out which brand works.

In some cases, it does not make sense as the quality of the name brand is just so much better.

As to TP. While I used a non-premium TP for many years; my wife clearly prefers any of several brand name premium TPs. The return on investment for the better TP puts most other investments in life to shame.

For those looking to save money on certain name brand prescription medications... After careful investigation I decided to go with these medications from Canadian drug manufactures (Canada also has a very strict inspection standards and requirements on drug manufactures equivalent to the US FDA - and a number of the US Name Brand medications for the US are actually made in the Canadian plants). They cost between 1/3 and 1/2 of the US name brand price (which is still a lot more than the China, India, European generics). The problem was finding a real Canadian pharmacy (as in has a building - licensed as a pharmacy in Canada - and local people use it as their pharmacy) to get these from, that also did internet sales. Most Canadian drug websites are only a website ordering center and source all of their "generic" drugs from the countries I do not trust (in a lot of cases the actual location of the order center is not even in Canada). The pharmacy I found also offers those China/India/European generics as well on their website; but does allow you to select Name Brand and "Canadian Mfr" options. For those wondering "Marks Marine Pharmacy", Vancouver B.C. They also have several different website names with different presentations of materials.

Best of luck for all on this,

Perry
 
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