Ridiculous!!
Creating "Me-too" drugs is a basic necessity of advancing drugs!
I could go on all day long about
big advances that have been made because of "me too" drugs.
Fondaparinux and enoxaparin, the ACE inhibitors, etc!
Same here, except the second generic had much more tolerable side effects.
With regards to mechanism of action, crystalline structure of "api" etc... The effects of crystalline structure on solubility of the drug/it's pharmacological effects/onset of action/duration of action are taken care of during the drug development process. There's a reason so much research goes into it.
Unless the drug you're talking about was levothyroxine, the differences are probably all in your head.
Pharma rant. Listen here. Big pharma is evil. They'll try to tell you that due to an asinine amount of regulation it takes a billion dollars to bring a drug to market. They will attempt to rationalize that in most of the world they sell their drugs at near cost due to socialized extortion medical wonderhappyjoyfulness. Then they'll whine that due to weak patent laws they have a limited time to make money on their work. That's just a lie, they just want moar money from all you feeble cripples. rolleyes
I've personally seen the difference in same class anti-depressants having dramatically not same results in the patient. But we're from the gov't, you'll take what drugs are good for you peasant. We'll tell you what those are too BTW.
1.) It doesn't take a billion dollars. It takes approx. 800 million dollars to introduce 1 new drug.
2.) Unless you're talking about places like India, I don't think you understand the issue.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp048158 I suppose you're going to claim NEJM is a pawn of "big pharma"
( To be clear, I'm posting that article because it accurately describes how things work now. I am
not agreeing with the author's conjecture.)
3.) Making a statement based on the effects of an "anti-depressant" in two individuals without regards to dose, indication, or diagnosis is simply a non argument.
The amount of counterfeit drugs produced in India and other places is a
serious problem, and if you'd like to start taking drugs manufactured in India, be my guest. Just know that no competent pharmacist will ever recommend buying drugs from those third world-esque manufacturers.
Also, inb4 "buy the drugs from Canada." Buying drugs from Canada is a farce, because .ca acts as a gateway for drugs from less desirable sources.
All of those people buying "Canadian" drugs via online pharmacies are taking medicines that no Canadian manufacturer ever touched. They're imported into canada from other countries for sale into the US and other markets.
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GigaBuist is spot on, you guys aren't understanding the "me too" concept.
Generic drugs are the result of a patent expiring on a new, exciting drug. After the patent expires, anyone can make the generic. It is the exact same chemical compound.
Me too drugs are sneakier. They take the original drug, and change a group on the drug molecule, which can sometimes be a
minute change to the functional groups of the pharmacophore or surrounding structure.
Take the ACE inhibitors for example:
http://media.wiley.com/CurrentProtocols/PH/ph0901/ph0901-fig-0006-1-full.gifThose are three different drugs