Generic Drug in India
Generic drug is a broad spectrum that covers the less expensive medicines without the use of
brands name and is now widely used in Indian Pharma. The Modi Governement’s goal to
meet the needs of millions of Indians who cant afford branded drugs. But just how efficient
are generic drugs? Medical experts as well as doctors claim they are as effective as branded
pharmaceutical drugs.
Technically, generic drugs are the copies of their pharmaceutical drugs with the exact same
medicinal components, intended usage, exact dosage, exact same route of administration,
dosage safety as the original branded drug. Doctors prescribe these drugs without a branded
license.An example of a medicinal drug is metaformin when the branded name for the same
drug is Glucophage. The brand names are usually capitalized whereas the generic drug names
are not. Generic drugs have various categories such as anti-infectants like anti-fungal,anti-
bacterial, anti-viral and anti-parasitic medicines as well as respiratory, gynaec, neurology,
sex-stimulants as well as analgesics. A popular and effective generic medicine for fever is
Paracetamol better known by its brand name Crocin which is often advertised on Indian
Television. Paracetamol is often prescribed by General Practitioners (GPs) when the same
drug is modified and called Crocin Advance that helps not only in bringing down the fever
but also helps in alleviating the pain, body aches as well as headaches. The downside of
Crocin however, is has side-effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) headed by a
team of leading doctors as well as medical experts prefers Paracetamol which is the original
drug that guarantees efficacy as well as safety. Generic drugs are cheaper mainly because the
manufacturers have not had the expense of manufacturing and marketing a new drug.
Whenever a new drug is invented and fits the criteria for patentability, a patent is granted to
the patent for upto 20 years, giving the applicant upto 20 years, giving the owner full rights
over the intellectual property; a limited marker monopoly to recover their expenses. Now,
when the patent expires, the drug falls into the public domain and becomes available to use
without license. It is marketed after the expiry of the patent or other exclusivity rights.
However there are issues with generic drugs.From a consumer perspective, patients consider
generic drugs to be inferior as compared to branded ones. Also, the colour of the pills change
often with generic drugs.The second issue from the manufacturer’s point of view is
competition from branded pharmaceutical companies. In the post-expiry phase other drug-
makers may manufacture the same drug under an international non-propriety name- typically
at a lower cost. Because generic drugs breaks this affordability barrier, allowing doctors to
prescribe medicines to patients and for pharmacies to sell them.
India is the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world under the Make-in-India
Initiative. The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry has a market value of Rs. 1 lakh crore. Of
these, 90% is owned by branded products.According to World Bank, India has a lower-
middle income economy-meaning that people largely belong to the lower-middle income
group. This paves the way for Indians belonging to the lower middle income group to afford
to prefer generic drugs over branded ones. The Indian Media also often highlights cases of
Doctors prescribing branded drugs at a higher cost to patients who cant afford them. However
this has been brought to Modi Government’s attention and due to the efforts of the Honorable
PM Mr. Narendra Modi, the sales of generic medicines have doubled since the last few years
under the Modi government’s flagship affordable drugs scheme. The generic drugs has great
scope for employment, new medicinal drug research, new job opportunities for medical
students and overall growth in pharma. The Indian Governement needs to invest more in this
direction since India also produces some of the best doctors in the world
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