Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Generic Drugs vs Brand Named ones

It is fascinating to me when I see people buying brand name drugs over it's generic counterparts even through both drugs does the same thing except one is more known than the other. Does branding play that of a role in deciding which drug to buy. One of the most common beliefs about generic drugs is that it takes more time for it to work. Also the old age saying that you get what you pay for and because you pay more for brand name drug it works better than the generic ones. Both of those are obviously false. The reason that generic drugs are cheaper is because the company that is producing it did not spend any research costs in order to produce it and thus does not need to charge extra. People often get caught up in the belief that since product x has a known brand it is a better product. But having a known brand is always better than generic ones since people actually have seen or know that it works. So because of this it gives them a intrinsic idea that the product is superior. Branding often creates an image of quality associated with them, it allows people to have a connection. People who never used a certain type of drug will often buy the branded ones because they feel a certain comfort that the drug will work compared to generic ones.