“Are we Indians prepared to shift to lone generic prescriptions in this COVID scenario?”

Abstract

A topic of never-ending debate among physicians, pharmacists, drug regulators and drug policy
makers across the world is “Branded versus Generic drugs”. Generic drugs are those, sold
without a brand name as they are not protected by trademark registration whereas branded have a
specific name provided by the manufacturer. Hence, generics are cheaper version of brands with
a profound bioequivalence profile. Conventional medicinal prospectus in country like India, does
not attend to the essential feature of rational or generic prescription writing. One of the major
reasons is the escalation of branded generics, that are sold at amounts adjacent to the innovator
brands. This adds to the cost of pharmaceuticals in the country year by year. Time and again the
consequence of generic prescribing has been emphasized to reduce the cost of drugs and in turn
enhance the availability, of at least the essential drugs in all most all health care centers. Hence,
it is vital to figure out the fundamental pharmaceutical concepts about branded, branded generic
and generic drugs which impart a greater effect on patients’ pocket and affect stakeholders in the
field of health care. This review article will help in exploring and understanding these issues in a
better way to allocate conversant pronouncement making for the profit of patients and society
equally. Even though the countries across the globe are fronting the COVID-19 pandemic
presently, sustaining the supply of drugs and pharmaceutical products is of course ultimate to
conceal the instant therapeutic rejoinder. In this regard, the role of Pharma industry in India, is
highly pivotal to not only encounter its national necessity but also correspondingly be imperative
for the world. This article will also highlight the plausible significances of COVID-19 on the
global pharma market and the important role to be played by Indian pharma market to contribute
the global retort to this pandemic.