How to know which is generic medicines and which is branded medicines? Tell me identification mark if any..?

Question

How to know which is generic medicines and which is branded medicines? Tell me identification mark if any..?

Answer 1

Unfortunately there is no easy way to tell, without looking up the name in a drug book, or online.

You can look on the drug bottle for the active ingredient(s).  If the name on the front and the name on the side are VERY different, there is a high chance that the one on the front is the brand name.  For example, Tegretol and carbamazepine are totally differnt.  Similarly, Tylenol and acetaminophen are very different.

However, sometimes the brand name is similar to the generic name.  For example, Cipro is the brand name for ciprofloxacin.  Similarly, Risperidal is the brand name for risperidone.

To make things worse, generic drug companies also don't follow the naming rules.  For many drugs, generic manufacturers simply add their company initials to the front of the generic names: apo-metoprolol is metoprolol made by Apotex, pms-ranitidine is ranitidine made by Pharmascience, etc.

However, some generic companies try to short-form the names.  For example, Novopharm likes to take the beginning and the ending of the generic name, and create a new word.  For example, they call their salbutamol "novo-salmol".

So, unfortunately, there is no easy way to tell if you are not in the business.

However, with internet so easy to use, just Google whatever name you have....

Good luck.