Generic drugs cheaper than brand-name ones?

Are generic brands the same?
A generic drug is a medication created to be the same as an existing approved brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration, quality, and performance characteristics. A generic medicine works in the same way and provides the same clinical benefit as its brand-name version.
What is the difference between generic and brand medications?
The FDA also requires that the generic version be as pure and stable as the original drug. But there may be differences between brand name and generic drugs. Although the active ingredient must be the same as the original drug, generics may include different inactive ingredients such as preservatives or fillers.

Why are generic drugs cheaper than brand-name ones?

Why are generics cheaper than brand-name medications?

Generic makers don’t face the same costs as manufacturers of brand-name drugs. That’s because the brand-name maker often invented the drug, a process that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. This is the rationale behind drug patents: They give pharmaceutical companies a period of years when only they can make money on a product in which they have made a large investment. That investment also includes advertising: all those TV commercials and billboards at bus stops.

For a generic manufacturer, no such investment is required — not in development and not in marketing. The drug’s formula is known, the clinical trials are complete; the generic maker’s only requirement is to demonstrate to regulators that its version is as good and effective in humans as the original.

That is an enormous economic advantage for these companies, which is why their drugs can be much cheaper.