Is there a difference between generic medicines and originator pharmaceuticals?
Generic medicines contain the same active ingredients as originator pharmaceuticals and act in the same way on patients. Equivalent generic medicines may contain different non-active ingredients (such as colourings, starches, sugars, etc) and they may differ in size, colour or shape, but none of these have any impact on the therapeutic effect, ie, the way they work in the patient’s body. In some cases, the active ingredient in generics and originators may also differ in salts and esters. And just as when originators modify the non-active ingredients, salts or esters in their products, these differences must not affect the therapeutic equivalence between the different products.
