Fagbaf - 1190 Words

Despite having a prescription for a specific brand medication, we are often served a generic drug and, often but not always, told that it is â€Å"the same† but less expensive. Is it really? Some generics of old medications such as the benzodiazepines and the tricyclics are really inexpensive, with most of the bill going toward pharmacy costs. As an example, the price of a low dose of amitriptyline for the management of chronic pain for 1 month is probably not much more than that of a cappuccino in a fancy bistro. In contrast, the savings on newer molecules introduced immediately after patent expiration are not that considerable. This is, in part, due to the fact that generic companies, like brand companies, are in the business to make money.†¦show more content†¦The only tryptophan intoxication cases recorded in Canada were individuals who had purchased tryptophan supplements from the United States. As a result, tryptophan was never removed from the market in Canada. The subsequent introduction of a generic for tryptophan aborted a double-blind study in our research unit on the effectiveness of a Visken-Tryptan (pindolol-tryptophan) augmentation in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder who were not responding to a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Indeed, the producer of the original tryptophan, with an already limited market, decided not to fund the study, as would be expected from a business point of view. Limited patent life may obviously restrict research investments. The cessation of research funding by large pharmaceutical firms after the expiration of their patent for a brand medication is a major setback for research at large. Indeed, quality of life and life expectancy have markedly increased in the last century, in part, due to advances in pharmacology fueled by drug development by pharmaceutical firms. Enormous amounts of money are invested in drug development, but an infinitesimal number of all the compounds synthesized and tested eventually make it to the market. Although scrutiny has to be exerted to prevent brand companies from over-pricing new drugs, there should also be rigorous surveillance of cost setting for