Branded Vs Generic medicines in India

The Healthcare industry of India is a billion-dollar question where population and diversity in
financial stature of people play an important part where most people cannot afford the
medical expense involved thus increasing the death rate also increases and limits the facilities
provided via authorities. There is a big difference between generic and brand-name drugs in
India. India is well known for importing low-cost quality generic medicines to more than two
hundred countries in the world. At home, however, India faces the challenge of equal access
to affordable and quality essential medicines for its own population. The important factor
contributing to this factor is the cost of medicines which is high due to expensive R&D and
patent technologies. Also, because of branding and marketing expenses and even after having
all these problems in plain sight the common man still slogs to seek medicines and medical
health because the medical practitioners and doctors tend to push expensive/branded
medicines being a part of the marketing chain.
So, the need of the hour boils down to this small concept where common people need to
understand the generic nomenclature of medicine and purchasing medicines that cost only for
the material and packaging also known as generic medicines. The use of generic drugs is
steadily increasing internationally as a result of economic pressure on drug budgets. Generic
drugs provide the opportunity for major savings in healthcare expenditure since they are
usually substantially lower in price than the innovator brands. However, physicians are
apprehensive regarding the quality of generic drugs and have concerns about their reliability
as well as the interchange of certain drug categories. Although the generic medicines are bio-
equivalent of their innovator counterparts and are produced in similar facilities according to
good manufacturing practices, these are widely believed as inferior in their therapeutic efficacy
and quality to branded products.
Healthcare expenditure continues to rise in countries where healthcare is not a priority.
Healthcare providers and policymakers need to keep drug prices affordable. Generic drugs
offer an important tool for reducing the overall healthcare expenditure. In the present
scenario, Generic drug is looking best option for India but progressive changes require in the
mentality of Indian people to adopt this truth. Besides this, there is a greater need for a
harmonized drug regulation globally for the overall growth of the pharmaceutical sector. The
major goal of patient care should be accessibility and availability of quality health care service
and infrastructure. There is a need to analyze how generic drugs are developing in the market
with the presence of branded drugs and how it is perceived by people in terms of quality and
efficacy.