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If the consultation from PrescriptionPoint.com has been done there will be a $20 US cancellation fee.

Yes. FDA requires that all drugs be safe and effective. Since generics use the same active ingredients and are shown to work the same way in the body, they have the same risks and benefits as their brand-name counterparts.

No. Generic drugs work in the same way and in the same amount of time as brand-name drugs.

Overall, yes. However, concerns have been expressed about some brand name drugs that require very close monitoring of blood levels or outcome being switched to the generic form in the middle of therapy. These types of drugs include anticonvulsants, blood thinners, asthma drugs, and thyroid drugs, among others. The FDA has investigated these concerns and, to date, no problems have been attributed to the substitution of a generic product for a brand name product (or vice versa). Even so, if you plan to switch to a generic form of these types of drugs, please be sure to double-check with your doctor first.

No. Both brand-name and generic drug facilities must meet the same standards of good manufacturing practices. FDA won’t permit drugs to be made in substandard facilities. FDA conducts about 3,500 inspections a year to ensure standards are met. Generic firms have facilities comparable to those of brand-name firms. In fact, brand-name firms are linked to an estimated 50 percent of generic drug production. They frequently make copies of their own or other brand-name drugs but sell them without the brand name.

In the United States, trademark laws do not allow a generic drug to look exactly like the brand-name drug. However, a generic drug must duplicate the active ingredient. Colors, flavors, and certain other inactive ingredients may be different.

No. Brand-name drugs are generally given patent protection for 20 years from the date of submission of the patent. This provides protection for the innovator who laid out the initial costs (including research, development, and marketing expenses) to develop the new drug. However, when the patent expires, other drug companies can introduce competitive generic versions, but only after they have been thoroughly tested by the manufacturer and approved by the FDA.

Contact your physician, pharmacist, or insurance company for information on your generic drugs. You can also visit the FDA website at http://www.fda.gov/default.htm for more information.

Yes, the manufacturers of generic drugs are legitimate companies, and meet the same state and federal regulations as brand name drug manufacturers. The generic drug company may be entirely independent of the originator of the drug. However, the generic drug company may be, and often is, a wholly owned subsidiary of the originator of the brand name
drug.

No. Many drugs do have a generic available, but the newest drugs approved by the FDA do not. Patents on new drugs expire after 17 years, at which point any company can manufacture a generic version, providing they get permission from the FDA.

Before any new drug is approved, the FDA requires many years of research and testing to make sure that the new drug works, and that it is safe. Many new drugs fail to win FDA approval. For these reasons, every new drug that is approved has taken years to develop and cost millions of dollars in research and testing. The 17-year exclusive patent allows the originator to recoup their expenses, and make a profit. This provides them with the incentive to develop more new drugs in the future.

No, because:

• Sometimes the FDA extends the patent if the originator somehow changes the formulation or the manufacturing process.
• The generic drug still must receive FDA approval before it can be sold.
• The brand name drug may be too technically difficult to make, or unique in some way. For these reasons even though it has been on the market for longer than 17 years, a generic may not be available. An example of this is the estrogen hormone replacement drug called Premarin.

To find out if your drug has a generic equivalent, just type the name of your drug into a Prescription Point search box. If a generic is available, its name and price will appear in the price list, near the name and price of the brand name drug.

What are Canadian prescriptions?

Canadian prescriptions are medications which have been approved by HealthCanada (Canada's equivalent regulatory body to the FDA) for use by the more than 32 million Canadian citizens. All Canadian prescription medications have a DIN or Drug Identification Number which uniquely identifies a medication's strength and manufacturer. Prescription packaging and labels are in both French and English, the two official languages of Canada.

Why is medicine less expensive in Canada?

Prescription drug prices in Canada are set by the PMPRB (Patented Medicine Prices Review Board) which was founded in 1987. Its mandate is to ensure that prices charged by manufacturers of patented medicines in Canada are not excessive, report annually to the Canadian Parliament on price trends of all medicines in Canada and to report on research & development expenditures versus sales by patentees.

The PMPRB does the following:

• Existing patented drugs prices cannot increase more than the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• Protects consumers by ensuring that prices charged by manufacturers are not excessive
• Only regulates patented-medications (A patent expires 20 years after filing in Canada)
• Most new patented drug prices are limited so that the cost of therapy is in the range of the cost of therapy for existing drugs
• Breakthrough drug prices are limited to the median of the prices for the same drugs charged in other industrialized countries (France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, U.K. and the U.S.)
• In addition, the Canadian prices of patented medicines can never be the highest in the world

For these reasons patented Canadian prescriptions are less expensive in Canada than the United States. The PMPRB does not regulate the prices of generic drugs. That is why generic medications are less expensive in the United States than Canada.

Prescription Point offers you the ability to order your prescriptions from Canada and/or the United States. We always find you the best prices.

Who regulates Canadian prescription medication?

When a product is offered for sale in Canada to treat or prevent diseases or symptoms, it is regulated as a drug under the Food and Drugs Act. Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Directorate (TPD) is responsible for evaluating and monitoring the safety, effectiveness and quality of pharmaceutical drugs and other therapeutic products available to Canadians.

Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Directorate is the Canadian federal authority that regulates pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices for human use. Prior to being given market authorization, a manufacturer must present substantive scientific evidence of a product's safety, efficacy and quality as required by the Canadian Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.