A Gram of Generosity in each Generic

Have you ever wondered if the cheap medicine you buy from local botika, priced at approximately 10 pesos or less, is truly effective? Some may believe it is inefficient, due to its low cost. Due to this, people may advocate against such generic drugs. Should you be one of them, then you may be contributing to the inaccessibility of other people to affordable, quality medication.

Blister packs of different types of tablets and medicines are piled up in this illustration taken on August 16, 2016. Source: freestocks.org/Pexels

Every month of September, the Department of Health (DOH) celebrates Generics Awareness Month, in pursuant to the Republic Act No. 6675, better known as the Generics Act of 1988. This celebration aims to promote and ensure the distribution, use and acceptance of drugs and medicines identified by their generic names. Moreover, it was later amended through the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008, which currently mandates pharmaceutical manufacturers to widely distribute and make generic drugs more available. It also requires employees and healthcare practitioners working in public, government-owned hospitals to use generic terminologies in all possible transactions, such as that of the prescription of medicines.

However, when discussing generic drugs, many people tend to have a lot of reservations, especially in terms of its efficacy, despite the implementation of these existing laws about generic drugs. Ku (2017) reported that, out of the 1597 Filipino households interviewed, 40% of them exclusively use branded drugs, 38% used some generic drugs and only 22% use generic drugs exclusively. The factors affecting the minor usage of generic drugs in the Philippines have been significantly attributed to its seemingly suspicious quality, specifically the longstanding conflict about its effectiveness. As a result of perceived low self-efficacy and lack of education about generic drugs, the general population tend to think that the cheaper the medicine is, the less effective it would be. Moreover, there are certain instances wherein people trust professionals, such as private pharmacists, drugstore staff and physicians, who tend to favor the suggestion and dispensation of brand-name medicine, which would now turn the public to passively rely on those despite the availability of cheaper, yet equally efficient, alternatives. Thus, despite the presence of policies geared towards the promotion and use of generic drugs in the country, the level of awareness and acceptance of the Filipino people for these generic drugs is still quite low.

The definition of generic drugs is still vague for most people, and is clouded with a lot of misconceptions. What exactly are generic drugs? Generic drugs are any type of pharmaceutical medication that is created as a copy of brand-name medicines, after its protection from chemical patent has expired. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), generic medicines have the same high quality chemical substance as their brand-name versions in terms of its active ingredients, safety, strength, effectiveness, route of administration, dosage form and benefits; given that it has undergone the necessary review process and has received FDA approval. The only significant difference between the two types of medication is their inactive ingredients, that is evident among their physical appearance, such as size, shape and color. These inactive ingredients, however, have neither effect in the content nor the therapeutic use of medications. Thus, generic drugs should be as safe and as effective as branded medicines.

Based on these findings, branded and generic drugs may be equivalents of each other. However, the most popular misconception about the use of generic drugs turned out to be its greatest advantage over brand-name medicines: its significantly lower cost. To make brand-name medicines, manufacturers would have to undergo extensive research and large-scale testing first before their products are approved by authorities and successfully landed into pharmacy shelves. This is quite a costly process, not including the extra budget needed to advertise and market the drug. Generic drugs, however, require less financial expenses for its launch, as it would merely be a copy of the established brand-name medicine it was derived from, resulting in it having a relatively lower price.

If you can afford brand-name medicines, then that is wonderful. However, in a country where nothing is free — health expenditure is high, and at least one admission to the hospital for treatment could cost you several years worth of savings — the cost does matter. Of course, there is health insurance. However, this may not suffice when the time comes. Despite the presence of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) that could help with health transactions, the help provided may only reach a certain extent. Aside from this, a lot of out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses still need to be financed, including the medicines and drugs prescribed to us.

If awareness of generic drug use is spread among the population, then it may lessen the incidence of our fellow countrymen suffering from mounting debts due to high health expenditures. This may not solve the many problems of our flawed healthcare system, but advocating generics could greatly help those who really need it. In our own little ways — just like how a drug works as we ingest it — we may be the routes of administration for other people to have access to affordable yet quality health care. Thus, in observance of the Generics Awareness Month, tell the people around you that a single coin can afford a generic drug that is just as effective as brand-name medicines.