You can save money on your medicines

Products involved in the recent recall of medicines were almost exclusively non-prescription and complementary medicines (i.e., vitamin and herbal products). Even so, the issue has brought into sharper focus the role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in monitoring all medicinal products available in Australia.

If you take prescription medicines, and just about every one of us does at some time, then you certainly want to know whether they are safe and effective. Fortunately in Australia you are generally justified in taking this for granted.
You may also be interested in the differences between different brands of the same medicine and the variation in prices. Thus, the Government’s current “generics awareness campaign” is quite timely.

As part of this campaign pharmacists providing the Pharmaceutical Society’s Self Care health information are distributing fact cards titled Generic Medicines.

Most prescription medicines in Australia are prescribed and dispensed as Pharmaceutical Benefit (PBS) items, therefore, the cost of these items is subsidised by the Commonwealth Government – and it’s quite a cost, too! The total cost of the PBS last year was about $5 billion. That’s the bill we share as taxpayers. More directly, as patients, we paid more than $800million as what is known as the co-payment of PBS prescriptions.

Nevertheless, using medicines wisely can be a very cost-effective exercise. It can save even greater expenditure on healthcare by avoiding, for example, surgical procedures or long-term hospitalisation.

The Government has made our pharmaceutical benefits system even more cost effective by the introduction of their “generics policy”, whereby they will subsidise only up to the cost of the lowest priced brand for any PBS medicine – the so-called benchmark generic.

The word generic really refers to the simplified “family” name of a medicine for which there might be many different brands; however, the term generic medicines is now generally used to describe copies of the original brand medicines. They contain the same active ingredient in the same strength and in the same dose form (i.e., tablets or liquid); and are just as safe and effective.

Companies which produce generic medicines must adhere to the same TGA-controlled quality standards as companies making the original brand. In fact, original and generic brand medicines are sometimes made by the same company.
Of course, different brands of a medicine may contain different inactive ingredients. They may be a different colour, shape or size and they may taste different. The type of container or packaging may also be different. For instance some brands may be packed in a bottle and some in foil or blister packs. However, differences in outer packaging do not affect how the medicine works.

If you know you are allergic to a particular inactive ingredient (perhaps lactose or gluten, or a certain flavour or colour), make sure you check with your pharmacist before using a new medicine – original brand or otherwise.
Generic medicines are normally less expensive than the original brand because the generic companies do not have all the early research, development and marketing costs involved with the original brand. So knowing about the availability of different brands may help you save money.

Nevertheless, price is not the only consideration. Your preference might depend on other things such as shape or size for easy swallowing or administering to children, or maybe the type of packaging for ease of opening or storage.
Remember, though, for PBS prescription medicines – less expense does not mean lower quality. Usually your pharmacist can dispense a different brand at your request.

So ask your pharmacist for more information and advice and pick up a copy of the new Generic Medicines Fact
Card.