Can I take generic blood pressure medications if I have hypertension?
As the costs of prescription drugs continue to rise, an increasing number of people suffering from hypertension are trying generic blood pressure medications in an attempt to economize. Generic medications are less expensive but are believed to produce the same results as brand name drugs. Since the drug’s patent has expired, other manufacturers are free to produce and distribute the medication in generic form, thereby making the drug less expensive.
Patients and some doctors worry that generic blood pressure medications may not provide the same clinical benefits as brand name blood pressure medications. Most of us believe that items that cost less may not be as good as those that cost more.
Generic blood pressure medications are believed to be “bioequivalent” to their brand name counterparts, which means that both medications produce the same chemical actions. A generic medication can contain different inactive fillers than those found in the brand name drug, and the pill may have a different appearance. This can be confusing for people who expect the generic medication to look similar to the brand name medication they are used to taking.
It seems that generic drugs are equivalent to the brand name ones, at least in the case of heart and blood pressure medications. This month the Journal of the American Medical Association included a study that analyzed a number of medications that are used in the treatment of high blood pressure and heart disease. They analyzed 47 studies that compared the results of using generic blood pressure medications with results obtained using brand name drugs, and found that the clinical results using each were equivalent. This is the first comparison of the equivalency of generic blood pressure medications and brand name drugs that has been published.
According to the results of this study, generic medications for heart related conditions and generic blood pressure medications provide benefits that are equivalent to those obtained by taking the more costly brand name drug. Even when faced with these facts, many physicians continue to resist prescribing generic drugs, especially heart and blood pressure medications.
You may want to speak to your physician about letting you try a generic blood pressure medication if you want to spend less money on your medications. If he or she is in agreement, keep a close eye on your blood pressure for a few weeks to make sure that switching drugs does not cause a change in your readings. Both you and your physician should be able to feel better about using the less expensive generic medication by using this procedure.