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GENERIC MEDICATIONS
Generic medications are less expensive because of the patent system. When they are first introduced, most new drugs are patent-protected by the government for 17 years. During that time, other companies can't sell the drug. This allows the company that developed the drug to market it exclusively and make back the research money that was spent to develop it.
Not all drugs have a generic equivalent.
Every generic drug contains the same components as its brand-name equivalent. All generic drugs must have the same quality, strength, purity and stability as their counterparts. Generics use the same active ingredients, they are shown to act in the same way in the body, and have the same risk-benefit profile as a brand name drug. The only difference is the cost.
Sometimes, generic versions of a drug have different colors, flavors, or combinations of inactive ingredients than the original medications. Trademark laws in the United States do not allow the generic drugs to look exactly like the brand-name preparation, but the active ingredients must be the same in both preparations, ensuring that both have the same medicinal effects.
Theoretically, there is no difference between the brand-name and generic product.
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