THE RISE OF LIFESTYLE DISEASES AND HOW GENERIC MEDICINES CAN HELP
Thanks
to the recent economic growth in India and its accompanying service sector
jobs, we can see all around us how lifestyle diseases like heart disease,
diabetes and obesity can wreck our lives.
Lifestyle modifications like daily physical activities, proper diet and
regular sleeping can help us in these regards but the real life-savers are the
doctor visits and the medicines.
Depending on the medical condition, medicines need to be used on a daily
basis or on a temporary basis until the conditions improves but the cost of
these medicines can be a huge burden for middle class/lower class families, as
branded medicines cost significantly higher.
Blood Pressure
Here branded generic medicines can be of huge help. A
major blood pressure-reducing medicine called ramipril (sold under brand name
Acepril in India) can cost around 56-58 rupees, but the same medicine of similar
strength generic ramipril costs only around 9-13 rupees in branded generic medicalshop. If doctor advises you to take this
medicine on a regular basis, taking generic medicine can be of huge help as the
cost is very low compared to the brand name and it has similar strength and
composition. The reason majority of us
gravitate towards brand-name medications is because of the persisting myth that
brand-name medicines work faster and have a greater effect on the disease, which
is not true.
Diabetes
Another
major lifestyle disease is the diabetes.
This dreaded disease is on the verge of being declared an epidemic in
India thanks to our craving for energy-dense foods and sedentary
lifestyle. It is our perception that
only the upper middle class people in urban areas are suffering from diabetes,
but in reality diabetes is fast rising as a major disease in rural areas as
well thanks to increased mechanization and loss of frugal eating habits. According to IDF (International DiabetesFederation), the current treatment cost for diabetes is Rs. 6000 per annual per
person as of 2015. It becomes
difficult for an average Indian to maintain treatment costs throughout the year
buying anti-diabetic drugs, insulin etc.
For example, if you buy branded anti-diabetic drug called Glimepride +
metformin from India's major pharma companies, it comes around Rs. 52 to
62. The same combination drug with
similar strengths available in generic form will cost you around Rs. 17.51.
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| Anti Diabetic Medicines |
Obesity,
more specifically morbid obesity (BMI of ≥ 35 kg/m2 and experiencing
obesity-related health conditions), affects 5% of Indian population. Due to recent economic growth and integration
of various technologies, India is slowly leaving behind its agrarian roots and
is developing into IT hub and service sector giant. Unfortunately, India is also fast catching up
with the developed nations with a trend towards obesity. With obesity comes various ailments such as
metabolic syndrome, congestive heart failure etc. One the major medications used to treat congestive
heart failure is carvedilol which is available in many branded forms, one of
these is Cardivas which costs around Rs. 31 per strip of 10 tablets. If you opt for an equivalent generic medicine
of carvedilol it costs around 5.50 per strip of 10 tablets.
It
is obvious that awareness is very important in this debate of brand-name vs
generic. Generic medicines are safe,
effective and are rigorously tested before they are introduced into the market. So it is important to talk to your doctor and
ask him for an alternative generic medicine for the prescription that he
provides. With the number of generic
medicine shops increasing day-by-day and online resources like genericwala common man now for the first time has the ease of access of generic medicines.
