Which is Safer and More Effective: Generic or Brand-Name Medication?

There is a debate going on regarding generic medication and its brand-name equivalents. Some argue that the brand-name medications work better than the generic and that the medication in the tablets or capsules are not equal.

First off, the difference between brand-name medication and generic medication comes down to one thing: price. Brand-name medication is the first medication that is released. There is a patent on that medication that states that legally no other forms of the medication can be produced other than the original medication for a period of seven to ten years. This is to maximize the profit of the people who invented and formulated the drug. This safeguard their business for the first few years so that they are guaranteed to see a return on their investment in developing their new drug. Generic medication is released when the patent expires on the brand name medication. Once the patent expires the "recipe" for the medication is released to the public. This allows any company to produce the generic form of the medication. To do this however the generic medication must be therapeutically equivalent to the brand name medication. This means that the generic must have the same dosage form of the brand name medication and must be tested and must be proven to work identically with the brand name medication. This is normally takes place over a period of years. The medication is tried on small controlled groups of people and once the results is thoroughly documented it is approved by the Federal drug administration and is approved for mass production and sale as the generic form of medication.