Drugs with big brand names behind them sure do get a lot of television time. Whether it’s Vicodin prescribed to deal with intense pain resulting from a bad injury, Cialis for erectile dysfunction and or pulmonary arterial hypertension, or Abilify for boosting the effects of antidepressants, there are lots of drugs with well known names. However, for each of those drugs which promise some powerful curative effect for the user, there is a spattering of other, lesser known drugs which provide the exact same effect by using the exact same active ingredients. In the battle of brand vs. generic drugs, the outcome is about much more than visibility though.

Drugs with big brand names behind them sure do get a lot of television time. Whether it’s Vicodin prescribed to deal with intense pain resulting from a bad injury, Cialis for erectile dysfunction and or pulmonary arterial hypertension, or Abilify for boosting the effects of antidepressants, there are lots of drugs with well known names. However, for each of those drugs which promise some powerful curative effect for the user, there is a spattering of other, lesser known drugs which provide the exact same effect by using the exact same active ingredients. In the battle of brand vs. generic drugs, the outcome is about much more than visibility though.

Advil / Ibuprofen

Let’s take a good look at three classic, over the counter pain medications to get a good idea of just how far this deception has really gone. Consider Advil, a popular NSAID, or non-steroid anti inflammatory drug. It’s a powerful little pill and just a few can really cut down on inflammation caused by an injury, reduce soreness in joints and provide overall relief of minor pains for the user. The main ingredient in Advil is actually ibuprofen; that’s what makes Advil Advil. It’s present in at least a hundred other over the counter pain relievers as well though.

You could go to any local grocery store and just as sure as there will be a store brand for bread, milk and other staple food items, you’ll probably find some store brand drugs as well. It might not come in the same classy packaging with the name you know from the television commercials, but the ibuprofen from your local grocery store is just as good as the ibuprofen Advil is trying to charge you 1,000% more for. 200mg of ibuprofen is 200 mg of ibuprofen; it’s not like drug companies can alter these basic ingredients. What you see is what you get and just because it doesn’t look good doesn’t mean it won’t work.

Tylenol / Acetaminophen

Now, consider Tylenol. That’s a pretty popular pain reliever and it’s also available over the counter, just about anywhere drugs and medications are sold. It works a little different from Advil and that’s because the two brands use different ingredients to achieve similar results. While Advil contains ibuprofen, Tylenol has a good dosage of acetaminophen instead. This is actually present in Vicodin as well, which is a combination of hydrocodone and acetaminophen where the latter is a catalyst which increases the efficacy of the former.

That same acetaminophen is also available in a wide number of offerings from smaller drug companies which just don’t have the national reach of Tylenol. Lots of companies which produce these generic alternatives will use the same blue and red capsules to make their product look like Tylenol but that doesn’t mean they’re the same thing. The active ingredient is, but acetaminophen isn’t all that goes into Tylenol. There are other trace amounts of drugs which help to boost the effectiveness of that and you might not get those from your generic variety. In this very particular instance of brand vs. generic drugs, the brand name item might be a stronger product.

Aleve / Naproxen

Last but not least, Aleve is another pain reliever which is popular with people who don’t have a prescription for something stronger. It contains a sodium compound which has been shown to cause cardiac distress in an exceptionally small number of users, but this little tidbit is something which Advil and Tylenol do not share. Those other drugs have health concerns of their own. Back to the point, the main ingredient in Aleve is actually a substance called naproxen, something which you can find in lots of other medications and probably in the exact same place you go to buy your Aleve.

While Wal-Mart might be well known for retailing cheap, plentiful goods, it’s important to remember that their store brand drugs go through the same FDA inspections as every other brand. If you go there to get a big bottle with a thousand 200 mg naproxen tablets, each of those is going to work just like if you had taken an Aleve for each instead. It’s not just Wal-Mart either; every company producing generic drugs goes through the same tests and must manufacture a product which contains what the label states it contains. It’s as simple as that and there’s really no reason to keep paying high prices for name brands.

Why Pay More?

What do you really get from name brand drugs? Nothing but higher costs for the medication you need to get through your day. You don’t get any better results – 200 mg of a medicine is 200 mg of a medicine, regardless of the shape or price of the pill it comes in. You don’t get savings. While each of the big brands will tell you theirs is the cheapest pain reliever, they’re really all lying because generic brands can cost 1/10^th of what they’re trying to charge. All you really get from name brand drugs is a bigger bill.