What
You Might Not Know About Generic Drugs
Posted September 11, 2012 09:30 am | Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Across the country, dozens of lawsuits against manufacturers of generic drugs have been dismissed because of a decision by the Supreme Court a year ago that makes it all but impossible to sue the firms for failing to provide adequate warning of a drug's dangers.
Attorney Gary Leppla represented the family of a young woman who had an adverse reaction to a drug and died. He says it's critical to know what your health-insurance plan tells your pharmacist to do.
Links:
• Wiki
What is a generic drug
• FDA
What are generic drugs?
"You have the drug manufacturers (and) insurance
companies really dictating medical practice. Doctors
have the opportunity to be aware of the risks of various
medications, and yet what is used to fill a prescription
is not necessarily dictated by the doctor. It happens
after it leaves the doctor's desk."
Proposed federal legislation would require generic
drug-makers to update their warning labels when a new
safety issue arises.
Leppla says you should ask your pharmacist if you're
getting a generic.
"I think that consumers should be aware of this proposed
legislation, which hopefully would level the playing
field. When we realize that 'big pharm' and insurance
companies drive this train and the consumer has very
little to say, it means that consumers need to gain
information and to network."
He says nearly 80 percent of all prescriptions in the
U.S. are filled with generic drugs.
"So, it's got a tremendous impact, and the threshold
question is: Why should I be treated different as a
consumer because I was required to have my prescription
filled with a generic, as opposed to the original
manufactured drug?"
Insurance companies say generic drugs save money and
have the same active ingredients as the brand names. As
the law stands now, generic manufacturers are not
required to update their warning labels, even when they
are aware of new safety issues associated with a drug's
brand-name equivalent. Name-brand manufacturers are
required by the FDA to update their labels.
The Supreme Court decision referred to is Pliva v.
Mensing. The legislation is S2295 and HR4384.
Links and graphics added by the Observer