Posted 19 September 2019
The cheapest erectile dysfunction (ED) pills are generic
Viagra, called Sildenafil.
What is a generic drug?
The term "generic" refers to the active
ingredient of a medicine or drug rather than to the advertised brand name under
which the medicine is sold. It is a term referring to any drug marketed under
its chemical name without advertising.
Pfizer made the original Viagra tablet that is often
referred to as the “blue pill”. The patent expired in 2013 which then allowed
other pharmaceutical manufactures to make a generic version under the name of
the active ingredient called Sildenafil. They are exactly the same medically
and perform in the same way with the same side-effects.
As with most branded products, Viagra is sold at a higher
price, therefore the generic tablets sold as Sildenafil are much cheaper.
What is the difference between generic
and branded drugs?
Medically there is no difference between a generic medicine and
the branded medicine, as they both have the same active ingredients to make
them perform in the same way. They only differ in the “bulking” agents used to
fill the tablet as the amount of active ingredient required, in this case
Sildenafil, is very small. This makes the tablets bigger and easier to handle.
The main difference between generic and branded named
prescription medicines is cost with generics being much cheaper.
Every pharmacy can choose what price they sell at, as there
are no fixed prices. It will depend on what price the pharmacy can buy the drug
from the wholesaler and the cost of their own overheads. They can they decide
what mark-up they require and some pharmacies choose to sell some products at
higher prices.
At Webmed pharmacy we aim to keep our prices as low as
possible, without compromising the quality of service, as we are the only
online pharmacy to offer dpd courier guaranteed next working day as standard.
We offer a very fast, confidential and discreet service that
is fully approved and regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
A large proportion of our sales are made up of returning
customers as they have been delighted with our service.
What
is the best brand of sildenafil?
When you choose to buy any
prescription medication online, you must first of check that the pharmacy is fully
approved and Regulated with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
All pharmacies using a UK General Medical Council, GMC,
registered doctor to prescribe their medicines will also be registered with the
UK government Agency the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Those online pharmacies who are not registered with the CQC
either use pharmacist prescribers or foreign doctors.
You will then know and have the
confidence that all the Sildenafil brands being offered are genuine and will
work in the same way. All the pharmaceutical companies are inspected by the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to ensure they
manufacturer the drugs to the same quality standard. This means that the key
ingredient that is referred to as the “active” ingredient is exactly the same
in all brands.
The other inactive ingredients that
make up the bulk of the tablet are called “excipients” and can vary.
For those
people who are allergic to or have an intolerance to lactose, then the Mylan
brand of Sildenafil is ideal for you as it is lactose free. You can check the
additional excipients on the patient information leaflet supplied with your
tablets.
Although medically all the generic
Sildenafil tablets are identical, they may look different as they can vary in
colour, shape and size due to the varying excipients.
The patent for Viagra, owned by
Pfizer, expired in July 2013, which then allowed other pharmaceutical companies
to produce generic Sildenafil. There are a number of companies now
manufacturing generic Sildenafil which include Accord, Ajanta, Dr Reddy’s,
Mylan, Teva, Torrent and Zentiva. Even Pfizer make a cheaper generic Sildenafil
that they sell cheaper than Viagra although generally more expensive than the
equivalent generic brands.
Author
Superintendent pharmacist Margaret Hudson BSc(Hons) MRPharmS
19th September 2019
Posted in Erectile Dysfunction