Just some information below as there are strict laws in the US and this is straight from the FDA website:
Myths and Facts about
Generic Drugs
MYTH: Generics take longer to act in the body.
FACT: The firm seeking to sell a generic drug must show that its drug delivers the same amount of active ingredient in the same timeframe as the original product.
MYTH: Generics are not as potent as brand-name drugs.
FACT: FDA requires generics to have the same quality, strength, purity, and stability as brand-name drugs.
MYTH: Generic drugs are likely to cause more side effects.
FACT: There is no evidence of this. FDA monitors reports of adverse drug reactions and has found no difference in the rates between generic and brand-name drugs.
Information on Bioequivalence:
One way scientists demonstrate bioequivalence is to measure the time it takes the generic drug to reach the bloodstream and its concentration in the bloodstream in 24 to 36 healthy, normal volunteers. This gives them the rate and extent of absorption-or bioavailability-of the generic drug, which they then compare to that of the pioneer drug. The generic version must deliver the same amount of active ingredients into a patient's bloodstream in the same amount of time as the pioneer drug.
And then the info on the inactive ingredients:
Generic drugs are required to have the same active ingredient, strength, dosage form, and route of administration as the brand name product. Generic drugs do not need to contain the same inactive ingredients as the brand name product.
**The key is that there is always a very slight variation when a drug, either brand or generic is mass produced but both must meet the same standards set by the FDA.
Some generics were absorbed slightly more, some slightly less. This amount of difference would be expected and acceptable, whether for one batch of brand name drug tested against another batch of the same brand, or for a generic tested against a brand name drug. In fact, there have been studies in which brand name drugs were compared with themselves as well as with a generic. As a rule, the difference for the generic-to-brand comparison was about
the same as the brand-to-brand comparison.
My words...
So this is why I am comfortable in taking generics all these years as anyone can happen upon one pill/patch or one small batch of a medication once in a blue moon either brand or generic that has such a small difference but it has never affected me in a negative way.
Post Edited (Snowbunny21) : 2/9/2013 7:44:28 AM (GMT-7)