Why we need generic medicines

Thirty-three years ago, in 1988, the Generics Law was passed to provide Filipinos with cheaper medicines.

- KRIZETTE CHU

Botika ng Bayan and Botika ng Barangay were set up, but unlike in the US where generic drugs are chosen more than 90 percent of the time, Filipinos were suspicious of no-name brands, thinking they were going to be less effective.

It took a long time before Filipinos started warming up to the idea of—and understanding—generic drugs. Without the marketing of big pharmaceutical companies, generic drugs became the medicines of last resort (even when they were cheaper by as much as 90 percent) until little by little, small, private local drugstores carried them—some even building an entire business carrying just generic brands.