The FDA requires that generics have the same active ingredient as the brand name drug and be biologically similar. Inactive ingredients though are permitted to vary. Thus generics might differ from brand name prescription drugs because different manufacturing and chemical engineering may lead to different isomers and inactive byproducts in the finished drug. This can lead to differences in effectiveness that escape detection in the industry and FDA review processes for generics.
As the FDA explains in a statement on its website:
FDA is aware that there are reports noting that some people may experience an undesired effect when switching from brand name drug to a generic formulation or from one generic drug to another generic drug. FDA wants to understand what may cause problems with certain formulations if, in fact, they are linked to specific generic products. FDA is encouraging the generic industry to investigate whether, and under what circumstances, such problems occur.
The Agency does not have the resources to perform independent clinical studies and lacks the regulatory authority to require industry to conduct such studies. FDA will continue to investigate these reports to ensure that it has all the facts about these treatment failures and will make recommendations to healthcare professionals and the public if the need arises.
Bull Hockey! culled this AM
FDA Pulling Pain Medication Opana ER from Market, Is This the Beginning of the End for Chronic Pain Sufferers? (OTHER ARTICLES TO SEE)
http://nationalpainreport.com/fda-pulling-pain-medication-opana-er-from-market-is-this-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-chronic-pain-sufferers-8833817.html
The DEA’s Opium War with the Taliban
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-deas-opium-war-with-the-taliban
A Drugmaker Tries To Cash In On The Opioid Epidemic, One State Law At A Time
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/12/523774660/a-drugmaker-tries-to-cash-in-on-the-opioid-epidemic-one-state-law-at-a-time
Medicare Erroneously Paid Millions in Electronic Records Push, Audit Finds
https://www.wsj.com/articles/medicare-erroneously-paid-millions-in-electronic-records-push-audit-finds-1497240060
History Channel is doing a special on the 18th on the war on drugs going back to how LSD got was a experiment gone wrong and getting into to public to the un-burned poppy fields in our 2 war zones.