Monthly Archives: December 2016

Have you ever refilled a prescription and noticed that the color of the pill you take is different? Maybe you noticed that it is a different size? Maybe you noticed that there is different number stamped into a pill. I am using pills as an example, but this you are probably going to experience changes in your medication over time. You will see this with generic medications.

I asked my doctor about this and he gave me this answer.

One pharmacy in America prescribes about sixty percent of the drugs we take. Other  pharmacies compete for the other forty percent. Generic perceptions can be produced anywhere in the world. It is hard to enforce quality assurance when a drug is produced outside the United States. Generic pharmaceutical companies want to be the sole provider for that sixty percent marketshare that that one pharmacy uses here in America. Other generic pharmaceutical companies around the world will offer a competitive price to get that business. Being competitive usually means sacrificing quality.

I was asking about a medication that I was taking on a daily basis because I noticed that the pill I was taking was larger than the one I showed my doctor. He said that there is a strong possibility that I have the same medication, but instead of 10mg per pill I might get 8 or 9mg per pill. He also said that could be other drugs mixed into my medication. The only way to know was to take it to a lab.

So if you are religiously taking your medication and still feel something is wrong, note that when your pharmacy tries to save a few bucks, it buys generics from the lowest bidder, most likely translating to lower quality.

The only work around is asking for the original medication, not the generic. But you may not get it, if your health plan only provides generics.