Posted by ed_uk2010 on October 22, 2010, at 13:58:49
In reply to Re: Fillers Might Be Potent Enough To Effect Results » ed_uk2010, posted by Zyprexa on October 21, 2010, at 18:28:36
>....they say it has to be 80% like the origional. I guess they are not talking about active ingredient?
The problem is that they do not know what they are talking about ;-)
Generics contain exactly the same drug, in exactly the same quantity as the original brand. For example, Prozac 20mg capsules contain 20mg of the drug fluoxetine. All generic fluoxetine capsules contain exactly 20mg of fluoxetine as well.
Tablets and capsules contain other ingredients apart from the drug itself. They may contain colourings (similar to food colourings), disintegrants (to help the tablets dissolve in the stomach), lubricants (to aid the manufacturing process) etc. These 'inactive' ingredients are often the same in brands and generics, but can sometimes be different. Most commonly, different colourings are used. Generics may also be made as different shaped tablets.
The often quoted 80% figure is part of a statistical bioavailability calculation. It does not mean that the tablets contain less drug, and it does not mean that generics are 20% less bioavailable. Frankly, it is best ignored unless you are a medical statistician.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:966418
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101020/msgs/966564.html