Posted by med_empowered on November 4, 2005, at 1:07:03
In reply to Generic Abilify?, posted by colin wallace on November 3, 2005, at 5:03:55
hi! Indian patent law works differently than US patent law (I've heard there are/will be some changes to how India treats pharmaceutical patents but..I don't know anything about that). First off, there are international patents, and US patents. Generally speaking, international patents expire long before US patents do, which is why people in other countries can often get generic drugs before US citizens do (even though US citizens pay MUCH more for these same drugs while they're on brand). Plus, there's a difference in **what** is patented. In the US, and I think most of the world, a patent covers the **medication** itself--so, if you invented Klonopin, you'd get a patent on the molecule that is Klonopin, and you and your company could make it exclusively and sell it exclusively for X number of years.
Its not like that in India. In India, the **process** is patented. So, if you had invented Klonopin, you'd be given a patent on the **process** used to create it. If another company could come up with another way to make the same chemical, they could sell it (just not under your brand name) for as much or as little as they chose. Also, ANY company that could find a way to create the given chemical could market it, so you could have 1 original drug and 22 knockoffs all on the market within a couple years. Obviously, this irritates Big Pharma but...it can be a great thing. Indian companies produce a lot of generic AIDS drugs that just wouldn't otherwise be available; other countries protect the chemical itself for X number of years, so Big Pharma can charge whatever it wants. In India, all a company has to do is find a slightly different way of creating the same chemical and BAM!--they can sell it, for very, very little money. And since there are sooooo many drug makers in India, they usually produce enough not only to satisfy needs in India--which is saying alot, since so many people live there-- but also to satisfy need abroad. This is why so many coutnries import Indian Generics (especially for HIV/AIDS and other complicated disorders) by the ton--they're cheap and usually just as good as the drug they're copying.
I think Abilify is being produced in India...Avodart (dutasteride) is cheaply available (its very new), as are other new-ish drugs...Risperdal, Zyprexa, Ambien, etc. There may be differences in potency, but this also happens in the US (I believe the FDA allows a generic to vary up to 20% from the brand in terms of bio-avalibity and overall "oomph", but I could be wrong about that). So...if you're on Abilify now, you'd probably have to play with the dosage of an Indian generic a bit before you hit on a dose that gives you the same benefit as the brand-name drug you're using. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:574828
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051031/msgs/575247.html