There is still confusion among doctors regarding the word "Generic"
Confusion still prevails among doctors as to what does the word "Generic" mean. I have tried to explain what is a generic drug as below.
There are two types of drugs - patented or generic.
The patented drugs are introduced in the market by the original company that researched the basic molecule. Let us take the example of Pfizer, which introduced two original molecules - Amlodipine and Sildenafil - and launched them in the international market as Amlogard (Amlodipine) and Viagra (Sildenafil). Being their research molecules, Pfizer had exclusive rights for 10 years based on their patent. These drugs are called patented drugs and the pharmaceutical company will have exclusive rights to them till the patent expires.
After 10 years as the patent period expires, other companies can also market these molecules under their own brand name or as generic molecules. These are called non-patented generic version of the drugs.