Blog 5 - Syeda

Per the FDA, generic medications are made to such similar standards that the differences between the name brand medications and their generic counterparts are of minimal if any importance. Generic medications contain the same active ingredients in the same amounts, are to be used in the same circumstances, and are given via the same routes.1 They’re made under the same strict standards, so the only differences are the inactive ingredients of the drug and the packaging that the drug comes in. Inactive ingredients are just that, inactive. So the only distinguishable difference lies in the advertising and brand recognition. So, why do people often prefer to use name brands?

It could be the placebo effect where people think the name brand medication works better, so it does eventually does. They might be treating psychosomatic pain, so their perceptions may be more important in a given situation. Or, it could be people’s subversive beliefs in regards to status, where buying generic brands makes them feel inferior and buying name brands makes them feel better about themselves. Or, it may be due to hybrid advertising where people truly believe and are influenced by the subliminal messages they see in advertising.

In the case of Lunesta, I’m inclined to say it is the latter. Working as a pharmacy technician last year, I frequently filled prescriptions for sleeping medications. When patients requested the medications by name, it wasn’t uncommon to hear zolpidem or temazepam for Ambien and Restoril respectively, but for Lunesta, I’d rarely hear its trade name eszopiclone, even to the point I had to look it up to remember it myself. The generic brand received FDA approval in 2014, so it was in stores by the time I worked as a technician, so availability wasn’t the problem. Rather, it’s the advertising--We’ve all seen the ads for Lunesta and more likely than not, remember the ideas quite well. I’m referencing the one I linked below, but the theme recurs in every ad.2 Each advertisement starts out with a similar scene, you see a middle aged adult sitting up in bed in a dimly lit room with a look of concern on their faces. And then a soft female voice narrates, “if racing thoughts keep you awake, sleep is here...on the wings of Lunesta.” In another commercial, the actor verbalizes his thoughts asking “did I make my car payment?” But then a soft neon green flies in and perches itself on their backs. “If you wake up often in the middle of the night, rest is here… on the wings of [fricken] Lunesta.” Why of course, a green butterfly WILL make me sleep well. These ads clearly aren’t just selling a sleeping medication. They’re selling you thought of a brief respite from reality--That despite having all of your difficulties and responsibilities in this world, one mythical creature will have the power to come ‘lift the burden’ off of your shoulders, figuratively and in the commercials, literally too. This form of advertising is powerful. Placebo effects and status-hunting aren’t so uncommon, but with this in mind, the dominance of name brands isn’t a mystery. If such a brand can have so much to offer, who wouldn’t want to buy that brand and only that brand?

https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/GenericDrugs/ucm167991.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ojjrLARMzA&index=25&list=PLQZTk4BbrTExLq1Lmdj1HqEOZRxv0zbN2