Generic drugs promote patients' compliance

MANILA, Philippines - For patients with chronic diseases that require long-term medication, high quality yet affordable generic medicine are a big help in complying with treatment and successfully managing their illness.

“In these financially tough times, the high cost of medicine often discourages patients from complying and continuing with their treatment. Quality, affordable generic medicine help patients with chronic conditions stay on their prescribed maintenance regimen, thereby enhancing treatment success,” said Dr. Danilo Kuizon, consultant cardiologist at the Philippine Heart Center and St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Kuizon cited the case of heart attack or stroke patients and those with irregular heart rhythm and prosthetic heart valves.

These patients face a high risk of forming clots in their blood vessels, which may break off and lodge in the lungs, heart or brain, causing a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism, heart attack or stroke, respectively.

As such, they need to take a drug called warfarin for months, years or even for life, Kuizon said.

Commonly called “blood thinners,” warfarin belongs to a class of medications called anticoagulants. It is used to prevent blood clots from forming or enlarging in the blood and blood vessels.

Warfarin works by decreasing the clotting ability of blood or reducing blood clot formation. Kuizon noted that numerous randomized clinical trials have established the efficacy and safety of warfarin in preventing dangerous clot formations and their debilitating or fatal complications.

The enactment of the Cheaper Medicine Law has given Filipino doctors and patients the option to choose between premium-priced innovator drugs and high-quality yet affordable branded generic medicine.

Zydus Phils. Inc. recently introduced its generic, bio-equivalent version of warfarin, which costs at least 40 percent lower than the innovator drug.

The Zydus brand of warfarin is also available in the US, Brazil and several countries in the European Union, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Zydus Phils. Inc. is a subsidiary of Zydus Cadila, the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in India and one of the world’s leading manufacturers of generic medicine.

Zydus Cadila is the first Indian and only the third pharmaceutical company from outside the Philippines to receive a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification from the Bureau of Foods and Drugs (BFAD).

“All Zydus Cadila manufacturing plants are FDA approved and produce high-quality generic medicine that are bioequivalent to branded innovator drugs,” said Boom Dizon, country manager of Zydus Phils. Inc.

“Zydus generic medicine are 40 to 60 percent less expensive than branded innovator medicine. At Zydus, quality is affordable,” Dizon added.