Speaking from experience, I’d say I wasted ten years of my life struggling along with the generic for the condition I have. Paying extra for the original has been worth it. But I think that companies advertising these fakes as the same thing should pay a penalty. How hard is it to test for absorbtion? Studies need to be done so that the dosage they claim is the dosage you get.
Wow again, more proof it’s better to err on side of brand-name for Prescription-items
But with Over the Counter-items: I’ve benefited from drugstore brand alternatives when the brand-name stuff doesn’t offer dye-free versions of tablets for example.
And for other minor instances. “Benadryl” brand cream on mosquito bites...burned my skin AND made me super drowsy. (Didn’t know a cream could be absorbed so quickly!)
But the Target-store version with the same active ingredient (Diphenhydramine/Zinc) doesn’t do either and works fine. Their inactive ingredients are the same too except one variation:
Benadryl has: Polyethylene Glycol Monostearate 1000.
Up & Up has: Peg-2 Stearate, Peg-20 Stearate.
#FirstWorld consumer issues.