It is not surprising therefore that questions like “are cheap generics from an online pharmacy safe?” are always lurking in the background. Let’s take a look at whether there is any real cause for concern. When Pfizer introduced sildenafil citrate into the new male impotency market, it was an instant success. This multi-billion dollar product was introduced after changes were made to the way intellectual property rights are governed, which protects certain rights of inventors but allows the public access to the use of the new inventions.

To put is simply, another manufacturer can reinvent a product and then sell it under strict restrictions, one being that they cannot take any action that represents their product as being the same as the original.

This appears to pull a share of the virgin market away from the original inventors — a market which gradually becomes diluted as each new manufacturer or retailer brings in a generic equivalent that does the same job as the original. All sundry products, particularly premium branded medications, are subject to the dynamics of the market. It would be unprofessional to point the finger at the manufacturers alone without considering the relationship between them, the retailers, and other parties who have a vested interest, each of whom is seeking to protect their share of the market from foreign generic drug manufacturers.

To make them safer for the consumer, generics have to be licensed by a variety of competing agencies prior to being imported into the U.S. and are made subject to other conditions that are strict and can be checked. The Food and Drug Administration (a federal regulatory agency) sets conditions for selling cheap generics in the United States. The agency’s responsibility is to ensure that all drugs, whether manufactured in the U.S. or abroad, are safe and effective. This means the generics that are made in other countries besides the United States but they are sold here must be certified by the U.S. FDA.

It would have been laughable had the lobbyists themselves not created the public “noise” over inexpensive generics. Generic drug makers regard this as business as usual.