Generic drugs as effective as branded ones priced 14 times higher: Study

WHEN it comes to medicines, a higher price tag doesn't mean better quality.

- UNNIKRISHNAN S @ T'Puram

In what could go long way in cutting down medicine expenses - in some cases up to ₹66,000 a year - a first-ofits-kind study has challenged the long-held belief among doctors and patients that generic drugs are inferior to branded medicines.Conducted by the Mission for Ethics and Science in Health (MESH), a nonprofit organisation, the crowdfunded research has found that generics are equally effective as their branded counterparts, despite being 5 to 14 times cheaper.