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Do you buy name brand medicine? poll discussion
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Branded medicine has a powerful selling point: nobody wants to ‘scrimp’ on their health. Yet cheaper generic medicines (unbranded/own brand) offer EXACTLY the same active ingredients (see the cheap medicines guide for more). Often the only difference is the lack of fancy packaging, and the coating.
Which of these do you mostly buy for yourself/your family?
A. Name Brand Medicines - 13% (959 votes) B. Own brand for me, name brand for the kids. - 8% (565 votes) C. Supermarket/Chemist Own Brand - 55% (3934 votes) D. Uber-cheap unbranded. - 17% (1226 votes) E. I get free prescriptions (so there’s no price difference) - 6% (453 votes)
Voting has now closed, but you can still click 'post reply' to discuss below. Thanks
What amazes me is that the NHS pay for branded drugs!
Of course, I'm sure it's of some comfort to those who have been refused critical drugs that the rest of us have pretty boxes with brand names on, as they are left to die because their drugs are too costly.
I get free prescriptions but, unless I'm missing something, I still have to pay for cough/cold remedies and general painkillers for the medicine cupboard etc which are usually ownbrand.
"According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway. Because bees don't care what humans think is impossible" Bee Movie 2007
Own brand for me, but the kids branded purely as they are formulated with better tasting flavourings. I know it is the same active ingredient in there for them but with kids and medicines its a taste thing and they like it, the cheaper ones don't have such a good taste so a waste of money if they wont have them.
D. Uber-cheap unbranded. its all the same. usually stock when abroad in cheaper country, always buy anti biotics as are cheaper than prescription charge.
Uber-cheap unbranded for me, or else supermarket own brand. I never buy branded medicines, it's just not worth it!
I also get free prescriptions but end up buying cold remedies etc as it's just not worth the hassle of going to the docs for them.
Incidentally the NHS do buy some branded meds, as already pointed out, but it's usually because either A: it's a new-to-market med that is still under licence so is only made by one of the big pharmeceutical companies (new meds usually have a sort of patent licence thingy on them that lasts for a certain length of time so that the original maker can recoup the cost of researching and designing the med before it can be made by anyone else, then once the licence expires everyone starts making it!) or B: they've got it at a bulk-buy discount that actually makes it cheaper to the NHS that non-branded stuff. I did once query this with my local hospital pharmacy as the epilepsy med they gave me was an expensive-looking branded one, but was told this is the reason - the manufacturer offers it at a huge discount to the NHS compared to the cost they charge independent pharmacies!
Trust me - I work for the NHS, and unless they're getting it at huge discount they won't pay for anything branded. We can't even have BIC biros, instead the only ones we can order through our NHS trust purchasing site are the cheap, rubbish pens!
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I live in Wales and get free prescriptions but when I was buying my own hayfever medication I went for the cheapest generic versions if possible. I still get the generic version but from GP now so free.
For coughs and cold and most painkillers again I go for supermarket own make (I don't go to GP for these aside from higher strength painkillers that I can't buy OTC).
When DD was a young child I rarely gave her medication but if I did it was own brand paracetamol suspension or ibrufen for children. I only bought branded if it was late at night and that's all I could get!
~Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.~
Next time your doctor prescribes you or your kids a branded medicine, ask whose cancer WON'T be treated as a result. And what the consequences are for that person... It's that simple.
The scandal is that UK doctors are allowed to prescribe a BRANDED medicine when the generic alternative does an identical job. The taxpayer is then obliged to pay for the branded version (If the brand is prescribed by the doctor, the pharmacist is legally barred from giving a generic to fulfill the prescription)
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR BRANDS KILL (other) PEOPLE
Pharmaceutical companies soften the blow by offering these generic-substitution deals as outlined by KittyKitten, in a few areas where their market share has been eroded enough for them to worry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kittykitten
I did once query this with my local hospital pharmacy as the epilepsy med they gave me was an expensive-looking branded one, but was told this is the reason - the manufacturer offers it at a huge discount to the NHS compared to the cost they charge independent pharmacies!
Pharmacies and the NHS fall for this short term win, and to encourage them to return, consumers are told that they're getting a "better" prescription from this chain (or hospital, or NHS Trust) because they're being given the brand.
And so the cycle repeats... Consumers demand branded prescriptions from their doctor, the doctor prescribes it, and the brand maintains its share... at NHS expense.
Result - people's relatives die - the NHS can't afford their specialised drugs needs, because of the money wasted paying for unnecessary branded medicines, as so eloquently put by esuhl
Quote:
Originally Posted by esuhl
Of course, I'm sure it's of some comfort to those who have been refused critical drugs that the rest of us have pretty boxes with brand names on, as they are left to die because their drugs are too costly.
Politicians and Doctors are quite happy to see these vulnerable people die - much more palatable than the threat of irrational middle class mums complaining about being prescribed generic paracetamol instead of Calpol for their precious children.
(Explaining the trade off wouldn't be possible in a politician's soundbite, and moreover, it's always tomorrow's problem - the pharma companies' deals are designed to make it appear that the problem is solved financially today)
And, despite being much more knowledgeable about what's going on, doctors are totally supine - they can all afford to pay any price for their own drugs if they ever need to (and meanwhile are heading off to Champagne Receptions at Wimbledon/The Opera, paid for by the drugs companies' sales promotion budgets...)
I have been known to buy branded but I keep a look out on the clearance shelves in Boots. They sell off things like cold medicines when they are off plan or out of season, usually at a fraction of the original cost and always with long dates on, often a couple of years.
It's worth looking out for prescription items that can be bought over the counter too, for example Chemist Direct sell generic Fluconazole capsules to treat thrush for 99p, the branded equivalent costs around £12 or a prescription charge.
Would you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage?
Last edited by geordie_lass; 18-02-2009 at 6:30 AM..
I always check the quantities of active ingredient and work out which brand or own brand is best value, sometimes the cheapest isn't best value. However often what you find is that say lemsip max strength is just a double dose of the supermarket own brand that costs one third. So I buy the own brand and take more!
graham, that not really true.
i work in pharmacy and the number of people who get branded drugs is tiny. most people get generic drugs.
the government set rebate prices for drugs to chemists and they buy the cheapest drugs they can. sometimes they get huge discounts on branded drugs and so they supply them, if that deal runs out they then buy the cheapest generic.
some people get branded stuff over generic equivelents eg if they are allergic to an inactive ingerdient in generic meds but it is not often.
the problem lies in over prescribing, people go to the gp for paracetamol, cold medicine and even worse medicine they don't need.
i once had a guy return 2 BINBAGS full of medicines after his mother died, she got a repeat every month because she could rather than because she needed them. we worked out that the cost of the medicine we were throwing about £5000.
kennedy louise born 27/10/2006 weighing 7lb 11oz alexander james born 16/10/2008 weighing 9lb 5oz.
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A 500 ml bottle of Senekot Syrup (manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser in the UK) costs just under £5.00 from Sainsbury’s pharmacy. A 150 ml bottle is the same price from Asda’s pharmacy (Asda’s explanation was incoherent).
This is available via prescription or over-the-counter. If a patient goes to Asda with a (free) prescription, the NHS is getting really hammered; if the patient pays himself, and is ignorant, he will be hammered.
Grant.
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Next time your doctor prescribes you or your kids a branded medicine, ask whose cancer WON'T be treated as a result. And what the consequences are for that person... It's that simple.
The scandal is that UK doctors are allowed to prescribe a BRANDED medicine when the generic alternative does an identical job. The taxpayer is then obliged to pay for the branded version (If the brand is prescribed by the doctor, the pharmacist is legally barred from giving a generic to fulfill the prescription)
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR BRANDS KILL (other) PEOPLE
Pharmaceutical companies soften the blow by offering these generic-substitution deals as outlined by KittyKitten, in a few areas where their market share has been eroded enough for them to worry.
Pharmacies and the NHS fall for this short term win, and to encourage them to return, consumers are told that they're getting a "better" prescription from this chain (or hospital, or NHS Trust) because they're being given the brand.
And so the cycle repeats... Consumers demand branded prescriptions from their doctor, the doctor prescribes it, and the brand maintains its share... at NHS expense.
Result - people's relatives die - the NHS can't afford their specialised drugs needs, because of the money wasted paying for unnecessary branded medicines, as so eloquently put by esuhl
Politicians and Doctors are quite happy to see these vulnerable people die - much more palatable than the threat of irrational middle class mums complaining about being prescribed generic paracetamol instead of Calpol for their precious children.
(Explaining the trade off wouldn't be possible in a politician's soundbite, and moreover, it's always tomorrow's problem - the pharma companies' deals are designed to make it appear that the problem is solved financially today)
And, despite being much more knowledgeable about what's going on, doctors are totally supine - they can all afford to pay any price for their own drugs if they ever need to (and meanwhile are heading off to Champagne Receptions at Wimbledon/The Opera, paid for by the drugs companies' sales promotion budgets...)
Thanks, given me a good laugh this morning reading this dribble
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I do get free prescriptions, but i dont bother going to the doctors or buying and taking paracetamol or cough remedies etc, my body fights it so whats the point? i dont believe you need this stuff.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps. Take care over copyright. Use excerpts and links rather than copying long text. This site asserts copyright on all comments posted on the board.
Pls be nice to all MoneySavers. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and even if you disagree courtesy helps.
Do you buy name brand medicine? poll discussion
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