At a time when a National Medical Commission has mandated doctors to prescribe only generic drugs instead of branded drugs, an RTI reply from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has revealed that there is no definition of generic drugs prescribed in the Drug & Cosmetic Act, 1940, and Rules made thereunder.

The reply exposes that if the doctor has to prescribe only generic drugs to patients, they should also know what a generic drug is. But the CDSCO reply can confuse the doctors.

It may be noted that the Indian Medical Association has recently opposed the NMC notification on prescribing generic drugs by medical practitioners.

The notification says that if doctors fail to prescribe generic medicines, their licences can be cancelled.

According to the USFDA, a generic drug is a medication that is designed to be identical to an existing brand-name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, mode of administration, quality, performance characteristics, and intended use.

The FDA further says that these commonalities serve to demonstrate bioequivalence, which signifies that a generic medicine operates in the same way as a brand-name medicine and delivers the same therapeutic benefit. In other words, you can use a generic medicine in place of a brand-name medication.