Most of us pick up a prescription, swallow the pills and never give much thought to generic drug quality. We assume that if a medicine made it onto an American pharmacy shelf, someone has made absolutely certain that it works the way it is supposed to. Here at The People’s Pharmacy, we used to love generic drugs. That was before so much generic drug manufacturing moved abroad. We have been writing about the generic drug quality quagmire for decades, with frustratingly little progress from the FDA, Congress, pharmacists or physicians. Perhaps a brand new video will make more of an impact than all our words combined.
What Is the Generic Drug Quality Quagmire?
There are so many unanswered questions. Where should we start?
- Where was that medicine made?
- Who inspected the factory?
- When did the FDA last inspect the manufacturing plant?
- How closely does a generic have to match the original brand-name drug?
- What happens when manufacturers compete to make medicines for pennies a pill?
- How well does the FDA oversee a pharmaceutical supply chain that stretches around the world?
Those questions can get complicated very quickly.
Understanding the Generic Drug Quality Quagmire Without the Jargon
The Morning Brew team recently produced a remarkably entertaining video about the hidden world of generic drugs. Host Annalisa tackles manufacturing, regulation, FDA oversight and the economics of cheap medicines without turning the subject into a pharmacology lecture. She also interviewed me about what patients have been telling The People’s Pharmacy for years.
There are clever graphics, wonderfully strange video clips and quite a bit of humor. But underneath the fun is a very serious question:
Can we always assume that every generic medicine reaching an American pharmacy is as good as it should be?
Rather than give away the story, we encourage you to watch the complete Morning Brew investigation here.
The People’s Pharmacy Enters the Story
Readers of The People’s Pharmacy know that we have been asking questions about the generic drug quality quagmire for decades. Annalisa Cochrane at Morning Brew invited Joe Graedon to provide some historical perspective on what patients have reported and what we have learned along the way.
Explaining the Generic Drug Quality Quagmire in Plain English
If you would like to jump directly to Joe’s portions of the program:
Joe’s first appearance begins here, at about 3:02
His third appearance begins at about 19:31
But we strongly recommend watching the whole video. Morning Brew connects the dots in a way that is unusually clear, fast-moving and entertaining.
Why Generic Drug Quality Matters
This video is not an argument against generic drugs. Generics save patients and the health care system enormous amounts of money, and millions of people take them successfully every day.
The problem is that patients generally have no practical way to judge the quality of the medicine in the bottle. We depend on manufacturers, regulators, wholesalers, hospitals and pharmacies to get it right.
That makes understanding how the system actually works surprisingly important.
If you have ever wondered why one generic medicine seemed to work differently from another, why so many pharmaceuticals are manufactured overseas, or how the FDA keeps tabs on thousands of drug products and factories around the world, take a few minutes and watch Morning Brew’s investigation. You will see David Light and Valisure in action. We have been writing about this independent testing laboratory for many years. We think you will be impressed with what Annalisa and David discovered about some popular antidepressant medications.
Then please come back and tell us what you think.
- Did anything in the video surprise you?
- Have you ever noticed a difference after your pharmacy switched generic manufacturers?
We always appreciate hearing from readers of The People’s Pharmacy. Please share your thoughts in the comment section below. We would be ever so grateful if you would share this post with friends and family. You might even want to share it with your physician and pharmacist. Perhaps this video will have a greater impact than all the articles that have been written on the generic drug subject.
