I.M.120 Helping you to BE YOUR BEST SELF

In the world of conventional pharmacological medicine, there are two broad categories of medications; generics and brand-name drugs.

Brand-name drugs are medications that have have a patent. They can be produced but only by one manufacturer.

Generic drugs are medications that are no longer covered by a patent and therefore can be produced by any quality manufacturer.

Brand-name drugs come with a huge profit margin for the company and are supported by an army of salesman and a colossal marketing budget.

Generic drugs have to essentially sell themselves. There's no marketing budget, there are no sales people. There is simply the drug. If it works well with few side effects then the doctors prescribe. If it doesn't then it will disappear from use.

No physician was ever paid money to discuss a specific generic drug to his colleagues. On the contrary, it is common practice for physicians to be paid handsomely to promote brand-name drugs to their colleagues at lavish dinners paid for by drug companies.

Likewise, you will never see generic drugs as a major sponsor of a medical journal. Brand-name drugs on the other hand are plastered all over these journals. It's not a leap of faith to conclude that this massive amount of marketing money affects the use of trade-name drugs.

Consumer Reports does not allow advertising for fear it will corrupt their integrity. They're dealing with dishwashers and microwave ovens.

Shouldn't we expect at least the same level of integrity from the major medical journals?  Unfortunately, most medical journals, even the most prestigious are at risk of being compromised by  money given to them on behalf of brand-name drugs.

For now, the best way for patients to protect themselves from becoming victims of the inflated claims of highly marketed trade-name drugs is to insist on generic medicine unless there are absolutely no alternatives.

Not only must generic medicine survive based solely on the quality of their effect,  but they also have the advantage of being in use for many years.

Medical history is full of drugs that came bursting out of the starting gates with great promise only to be found later that they were causing sometimes fatal complications.

Less expensive, time-tested, patient proven, generic drugs are simply a smarter,  safer and more effective alternative than most other brand-name drugs.

-Dr. Stephen Petteruti