For those of you not familiar with how the prescription drug manufacturing industry works, here is a quick and dirty overview:
Scientists working at prescription drug manufacturing companies perform research, experiments, and many many trials to find useful substances and compounds. For every product that performs a beneficial and useful effect without too many side effects, there are thousands more formulas that failed. This means that the costs of developing a new prescription drug are absolutely staggering, running into the billions of dollars in some cases.
This means that the prescription drug companies must sell the new medication for extremely large profit margins over manufacturing costs to try and recoup the initial research investment. But consumers who need these medications, often for the rest of their lives, can't be made to pay these extremely high prices for the rest of their lives. Because of this unique situation, the federal government decided to try and reach a fair compromise that both the consumers and the drug manufacturing companies can live with.
Basically, after a certain amount of time, a drug becomes available for other manufacturers to produce using the formula originally developed, but the original company retains control over the brand name. Since a pill often costs only pennies to make, these "generic" manufacturers are able to sell the product for well under the brand name medication, and maintain a healthy profit margin since they did not have to pay for the original research and development.
What this means for you, the consumer, is that you can often find discounted anxiety medications. These generic versions are usually sold by the active ingredient's scientific name; for example, the drug Paxil can be found in generic versions as Pyroxetene Hydrochloride.
But the old adage "you get what you pay for" can hold true to some extent even in the medical market.
Generic Anxiety Medication Precautions
Most major drugs for anxiety treatment now have a discounted generic version. While this is very good for your wallet, there are a few caveats to generic drugs that you should be aware of.
The manufacturing quality can vary widely between different generic discounted anxiety medications. While for the most part, they are subject to stringent quality control, there have been a few cases already where contaminants got into the manufacturing line and wound up in the pills. Some of the chemicals used in prescription drug manufacturing can be extremely hazardous, so use caution and report any side effects to your doctor immediately.
Before purchasing any generic discounted anxiety medication, talk with your doctor. Even otherwise fine generic anxiety medications can sometimes be slightly different than their brand name counterparts. The active ingredient will be the same, but the rest of the ingredients may not. These small variations can lead to one particular brand being more effective than another.
