By Dylan McWilliams, Student Pharmacist
With Karen L. Kier, Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
The idiom known as “the same, but different” is a saying commonly used in Southeast Asian countries and especially in Thai culture. The meaning indicates there is a fundamental difference, but with the slightest similarity.
Generic drug medications are actually the opposite of this idiom, being fundamentally similar with some slight differences. These differences could be in the inactive ingredients or the color or shape of the pills, which do not alter the therapeutic effect of the drug. Generic drugs are considered small molecule entities, but new biosimilar drugs entering the market are very large molecules in comparison.
The United States is full of competition and this is something that does not stop with drug manufacturers. When the first large molecule drugs were approved by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), drug companies wanted to duplicate this process similar to a generic drug.