Difficulties in the production of identical drug products from a pharmaceutical technology viewpoint

Generic products reduce healthcare expenditure and create market competition, and it is broadly assumed that these drugs are identical to the original branded reference drug product. In practice, despite legislation demanding demonstration of pharmaceutical equivalence and bioequivalence, thereby ensuring the safety and efficacy of the product, generic products can differ significantly from the reference drug and amongst themselves, particularly in terms of pharmacokinetic properties. These differences most often relate to pharmaceutical technical differences in production of the active principle ingredient (e.g. different crystalline forms or particle size), to use of excipients (such as sugars) or to the manufacturing process itself (such as tablet manufacture). Furthermore, from the patient's perspective, changing from branded to generic drugs can give rise to concerns about switching. Although sufficient safeguards exist to ensure patient safety and generic drug efficacy, it should not be assumed that all generics are entirely identical.