More and more people wonder why drugs are cheaper in Canada. In fact, the answer is simple: most online pharmacies specialize in distributing generic drugs.
What are generics and why are they cheaper?
A generic drug is a medication that has the same active pharmaceutical substances and the same dosage form as the original drug. The bioequivalence of a generic drug to an original drug is confirmed by appropriate bioavailability studies when registering a drug.
The development of new drugs is not cheap (the launch of the drug on the market, according to various sources, costs 1.5-2.5 billion dollars) and long (usually, it takes 6-10 years). To compensate for the invested money, a manufacturer receives a patent for a new medicine that first appears on the market, giving the exclusive right to manufacture it. After the patent expires (usually 20 years), any pharmaceutical company can produce a copy of the drug (generic). Since they did not invest in the development and promotion of this medicine, their generics are cheaper. The cost of the first copy product is usually 50% of the cost of the original, and the subsequent ones can be 2-3 times cheaper.
Many people think that a high price is a guarantee of quality, and a reliable drug cannot cost cheaply. But this is not the case, especially when it comes to generics produced by well-known pharmaceutical brands and sold in Canada. Often, both original drugs and generics are produced on the same site using the same technology, and in order to register a generic, the manufacturer must conduct a full-fledged clinical study (although according to a simplified scheme) and prove that it is completely equivalent to the original drug.
The cost of a generic drug depends on the cost of raw materials, staff salaries, costs of electricity and infrastructure, etc. And they are different in each country and each company, therefore the price of a generic drug in some cases is 20%, and in others 60% of the original. In Canada, in order to keep the cost of medicines in an affordable price segment, enterprises carry out activities aimed at reducing production and economic costs and modernizing production according to GMP standards (an international standard that guarantees high-quality production of medicines, i.e., compliance with international requirements).
Based on this information, it should be understood that a generic is not a fake or a drug that is made somewhere in the basement of an abandoned house. The production of a generic is exactly the same serious and high-quality process, in compliance with all safety measures and the requirements of standards. The active ingredient of a generic drug is completely analogous to the main component of a branded drug. However, generics can have a different shape, color, taste, duration and half-life. But this is all due to minor substances in the composition, which do not make a significant contribution to the treatment. Counterfeit medicine has nothing to do with generics since as a rule, it does not contain the necessary substance at all but consists of completely unnecessary and sometimes even harmful components. Besides, it does not have a license and certification and it is produced precisely in secret. Currently, many high-quality generics are produced in Canada, where there are large pharmaceutical companies and serious research laboratories. There are generics for almost any medicine – common cold, flu, sleeping pills, painkillers and so on.
The main thing is to choose a reliable pharmacy, such as My Canadian Pharmacy. This way you will reduce the risk of purchasing a counterfeit drug to zero.