The doctor has prescribed a generic drug. As you look at the prescription form on your way out of the doctor's office, you wonder, "Is it just as good?"

Yes. And here's why. First and foremost, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assures that generics are just as strictly controlled and monitored as brand name drugs.

Let's start with what generics are. They are a copy of the brand name drug in dosage, safety, strength, how it is taken, quality, performance and intended use. Generics work in the same amount of time and the same way.

But the key difference in a generic is that they are generally far less expensive than their brand name counterparts. That's because the companies that are making the generics don't have to invest the research and product development dollars into creating the drug. So manufacturers producing the generic are able to offer the drug at a discount.

The company that creates the drug gets a patent on the drug for 20 years starting from the day the application for a patent is submitted to the FDA for approval. This patent means no one else can make the drug within those 20 years. When those 20 years are up, other manufacturers apply to the FDA to be allowed to sell copies of the drug. These versions must be thoroughly tested before being approved by the FDA.

The only other difference is that the generic looks different than the original. Trademark laws say the generic cannot look like the brand name. So the generic will have the same active ingredient but may differ in color, taste or shape. Nothing else is different.

So you can use generics with complete confidence that you are getting the same thing, only cheaper.

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