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You bring your medicine home from the drug store.  It is your usual prescription - or so you think.  But when you shake out the first pill, you see that it doesn’t look the same as the pills you usually get.  What should you do? You check the label again to verify the name of the medication, only to discover that it’s something completely unpronounceable, containing more letters than would seem humanly possible.

This frequently happens across the United States, and could be avoided with proper patient education concerning FDA approved generic medications. When this happens, many patients immediately think someone gave them the wrong medicine or filled their prescription wrong. It is quite likely that your prescription was filled as prescribed, but with a more cost effective generic drug that is the same as the brand name you were receiving beforehand.

When we find this out, we usually go back to the pharmacy ready to argue, until the pharmacist assures us that the medication is what was prescribed, only in its generic form.

So what should you expect after getting a generic drug with regards to what seems to be on your label and in the container? These are some areas where generics tend to be obviously different than their brand-name counterparts. Realizing that there are these differences, but that the medication is still the same, can help put you at ease, and when you call or return to the pharmacist to ask questions, they’ll be better able to educate you. Please be mindful that that information below is correct, yet should not be your only source for proof of a correctly filled prescription. Contact your pharmacist prior to taking the medication if you have any doubts. Having said that, the fact is many pharmacies are sure to inform the patient about the generic medication before the patient leaves.

Here are some differences you will find with generics:

Color, Shape,  and Size:  Generic medications are usually made by generic drug companies. These are independent companies that have no connection with the brand maker of a drug. For this reason, the way they manufacture and design the appearance and size of a medication can vary. This is based entirely on the production of the pill. The styles differ a lot from one company to the next. The brand name tablet may be a different color and shape than its generic form. This is a superficial difference.  Generics are approved by the FDA to be exactly like their name brand equivalents.

Label name:  Typically this is the source of the most confusion, despite its simplicity. What your generic medication is called is just the technical, pharmaceutical name they give to the chemical compound or formula it consists of. You will usually find that a brand name is an easy name to spell, say, and remember.  This often makes them the drug of choice for doctors and patients. Picture a prescription drug that combats reflux and you are liable to think of Prilosec. Suppose I say that the real name of the drug is Omperazole.  Would you wonder if it was really the same drug? Well, the brand name is usually catchy and easy to recall, but it is really exactly the same as the generic.  That’s the law per the FDA.

Inactive Ingredients:  Because the FDA has strict regulations, the majority of prescription medications that are presented as generic must be chemically identical to their brand name counterparts. But variations in hue, binding and texture may be the result of not having the same inert ingredients. The contrasts in filler ingredients are greater in non-prescription generic types of name brands. The main thing to know is that the only differences lie in the inactive ingredients. In other words, at times there may be differences in the ingredients that constitute the pill’s taste, color, shape, texture, or binding, however these differences have no effect on the medication’s active ingredients, or on how it actually works.

Cost:  Now here is the real difference.  This is sure to be the underlying reason you wanted to give generics a try. Most generics are up to 80% cheaper than their brand name counterparts. It is sometimes hard to understand how the very same drug can cost so little. People mistakenly think that somehow the generic drug is not as effective and even more dangerous than the brand name. This isn’t even close to the truth. Actually, there is one basic reason why generics are less expensive. The company that originally created the brand medication invested large amounts of time and money in research & development of the product, testing it, getting the medication FDA approved, as well as advertising and producing it. Because of these up front costs, the FDA gives the company that developed the drug exclusive rights to market the product for a certain number of years without competition.

When the patent expires, the drug formula is available and generic companies can reproduce it to FDA approved sameness, making their primary concern the production, packaging, and shipping of this already existing drug. Since researching and developing new drugs costs billions of dollars, making a drug that already exists is cheaper and creates savings to everyone, including you, the consumer, with generic medications. Today several brand making companies have actually resorted to turning their own brand name medications into generics. In this way they utilize the ‘home field advantage’. They can compete with generic companies with the drug they created to begin with.

But there are people who think that brand names work better than generics.  Why? It is possible that this is a psychological effect.  While there may be slight differences in inactive ingredients, it is far more likely that the difference in thinking is responsible for the difference in effectiveness. Consider how when you are stressed, you often feel physical alterations because of the mental strains. As well, a tiny percentage of individuals could be allergic or sensitive to the inactive ingredients in a generic drug which might affect the overall purpose of the drug itself. Once again, the FDA regulates all drug production, including generics, which are tested before being permitted to be offered to the general population. In 2007 the FDA started an educational campaign. They distributed literature and information sheets about generics and how they are sold in pharmacies.  The information sheets explained that they are approved and tested by the FDA to ensure the highest quality. Generics are tested exactly like brand names - in accordance with FDA standards.  They are required to be equal in effectiveness, consistency, and accuracy.

Generics can save the buyer a lot of money. When it comes right down to it, generics cost less because all of the research, development, and marketing for the medication has already been done.  The drug is already an established entity, thanks to the brand maker.  This means the same medication can be packaged and sold for much less.  Discuss any doubts or questions you may have, about generic drugs, with your pharmacist and do not leave the pharmacy without verifying that the pills and medications you received are the high quality generics of your brand named prescriptions.