To the average customer, a generic drug is simply a copycat of the brand-name drug, basically it is the same drug at a cheaper price. While generics are required to have the same active ingredient(s), they are not made with the same exact specifications of their brand-name counterpart. Both the FDA and Health Canada require generics to be bioequivalent as the brand-name drug; however, they are not required to submit clinical testing for safety and efficacy like their brand manufacturers must undergo. The one major difference is that the FDA allows a generic drug to be as much as 80 percent below to 125 percent above the brand-name drug’s range in terms of bioavailability ~ absorption. Lastly, generic manufacturers are hampered in their ability to fully disclose listed side effects that may differ from their brand-name equivalents due to current rules preventing them from making any updates on their warning labels.
