Supermarket Pharmaceuticals

[Gadarene]

Has there been shown to be any substantive difference between the effects of a brand-name over the counter medicine (say, Advil) and its generic store brand counterpart?

Does sharing the same active ingredient really mean that they work equally well?

[Lissa]

Depends.

Using cheaper ingredients may alter the bio-availability of the drug. Sometimes, there is no appreciable difference between generic drugs and brand-name, but sometimes generic drug companies use cheaper versions of the ingredients which may affect the efficacy.