Brand vs. Generic meds?

[admin]

In putting together a FAK which may be used by others, I’ve run into the question of whether to buy brand or generic drugs. Generic is obviously cheaper, but there are two concerns I have:

1. Someone doesn’t trust or even recognize the generic version, and thus go without
2. Someone has (known or unknown) allergies to ingredients in one type or another and substituting them could cause problems

I’ve seen both scenarios happen. I’ve also seen misguided advice (e.g. “ibuprofen is the same as Tylenol”) enough to expect that no one should trust me if I say that acetaminophen is the same active ingredient as is in Tylenol. But going with brand names isn’t always the “safer” route; for some people, ibuprofen is more recognizable than Advil.

Has anyone else considered these factors?

[Author]

Posts