WHAT'S IN A NAME? GENERIC DRUGS ARE GROWING MARKET

Jim Tilghman, pharmacist at Medical Arts Pharmacy Inc., says about 55 percent of the prescriptions he fills are generic drugs.

At left are various generic drugs for high blood pressure, tranquilizers and aspirin while at right are name-brand drugs. Most generic drugs sell for half the price of name-brand drugs.

Nationwide, generic drugs are just what the pharmacist ordered.

Cape Girardeau pharmacist Jim Tilghman fills many prescriptions with generic drugs. He estimates generics account for 55 percent of his annual sales at Medical Arts Pharmacy, 937 Broadway.

Nationwide, drugstores fill more than 400 million prescriptions annually with generic products. The National Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers says that represents about 30 percent of all drugs sold to American consumers outside of hospitals.

Less than 20 percent of the 10,000 different drug products available are single-source brand names. The other 80 percent are generics, the pharmaceutical association says.

Tilghman said customers want generic drugs because they cost less.

On average, most generics are half the price of brand-name drugs.

Generally, when brand names are introduced, they are patent-protected for 17 years. During that time, only one brand of a drug is on the market.

When the patent expires, other drug companies can introduce generic versions of the brand-name product.

Generic drugs cost less because less money is spent advertising, promoting, researching and developing them. In addition, because more than one company is producing a particular generic drug, there is often competitive pricing.

The lower cost is a big draw for drugstores, too.

"You can make the same money on less investment," he said.

Health insurance companies, faced with paying much of the cost for prescription drugs in medical benefit plans, encourage the dispensing of generic drugs.

People on health-insurance plans with drug cards often pay a higher co-payment for brand-name drugs. Health insurers also pay higher dispensing fees to the pharmacists for selling generic drugs, Tilghman said.

Medicaid is also a factor, basically requiring generic drugs to be dispensed where possible.

Sam Unnerstall runs Unnerstall's Drug Store at 630 Good Hope. Many of his customers are Medicaid patients.

"In my end of town, 60 to 70 percent of my business is generics," he said.

Unnerstall said he even asks his cash-paying customers if they want the generic brand.

Unnerstall said there is a tremendous difference in cost between some brand-name drugs and generic versions.

One diuretic for blood-pressure patients costs $175 for 1,000 tablets of the name-brand variety. A generic equivalent costs $10 for the same number of tablets. "Which would you want?" he asked.

Both Tilghman and Unnerstall said not all generics are the same. There are good ones and bad ones.

"I don't want something made in somebody's basement down in Mexico. I don't have that stuff that isn't very good," Unnerstall said.

Tilghman said two different generic drugs might contain the same chemicals, but one might be mixed better than another.

He compared it to a chocolate pie. "If you give 10 women a chocolate pie recipe, you are going to have some good pies and some not so good."

Tilghman is picky about his generics. "I don't stock any generics that I won't give to my family."

Tilghman said new, patented drugs are expensive. While a drug is patented for 17 years, it often takes several years before the drug receives government approval and is put on the market.

A company might end up selling the drug for only five to 10 years before the patent expires.

Tilghman said many trade-name manufacturers have turned to making their own generics.

Even with the growing demand for generic drugs, pharmacists still sell a lot of patented drugs.

Name-brands are marketed by pharmaceutical company salesmen who visit doctors' offices. They generally provide drug samples to doctors' offices.

Most area doctors allow for generic substitutions when they fill out the prescriptions. Those same prescriptions, however, often list a name-brand drug that is still under patent and for which there is no generic substitute, Tilghman said.

In many cases, the consumer is still having to buy a costly name-brand drug, he said.

But Tilghman said some new drugs are noticeably better than the drugs they replaced.

When it comes to generics, pharmacists often have a choice of 20 to 30 different varieties of a drug. Instead of stocking all of them, the druggist will buy the generic type he thinks is best, Tilghman said.