As a practice, we follow the Health and Social Care Board’s advice to prescribe generically. Generic prescribing means that the drug you have been prescribed will be under it’s ‘real’ name instead of a specific brand name.
New drugs are developed under patent protection. The patent protects the investment, including research, development, marketing and promotion by giving the company the sole right to sell the drug under the brand name for an x amount of years. As patents near expiration, other manufactures can apply to sell generic versions. This encourages competition and therefore results in a fairer and more sustainable price for the NHS.
