Saturday, November 24, 2007

Unclear On The Concept?

Maybe it's just me. Our prescriptions came from the pharmacy in this bag this week:

It says, more or less, "Sandoz Generic Drugs. Sandoz: A Brand You Can Trust."

Now, I thought that the term "generic" meant that there was no brand name, no advertising, no fancy packaging, all toward the goal of making the cost and price of a particular product lower.

Not only do my "generic" prescriptions come in nice packaging with a brand name, but they also now come in a fancy bag that advertises them.

So I looked up the word générique as applied to drugs in the Petit Robert. It seems to mean that the trademark, or the equivalent of the patent, for the drug's formula has moved into the public domain so that any company can make and sell it. By extension, a produit générique is one without a brand name.

It seems that I was the one who was unclear on the concept. Another mystery solved.

4 comments:

  1. You and me both! I guess when they say here that "les génériques coûtent moins cher," it's just because the formula isn't trademarked anymore.

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  2. Mind you! Some of the génériques end up being more expensive than the real thing.
    http://vieuxcestmieux.com/2007/04/29/generique-quils-disent-2/

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  3. Both good points. I'll have to check that out, claude.

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