In such cases the generic version would not be viewed as an equivalent, though. Yes, there are many cases where a medication contains more than just the sum of its parts, as it were, and it can be very important in some treatments, in which case your doctor will prescribe a specific formulation that may not be replaceable by a generic product.

In the UK this was enshrined as standard practice by the NHS some decades ago, and both doctors and pharmacists are required to prescribe and dispense generic products where they are exactly the same, but clearly not doing things like replacing slow-release products, when required for a given treatment, with the more normal versions.

It's not about disallowing branded products, not at all, just ensuring that the patient gets the right drug at the right price, and yes, that may very frequently be a branded version if it's the most appropriate in the circumstances.

Indeed- and we are not talking 'just' about the Swiss situation here, but the basic principle of prescribing generics or not, in general.

Yes it's called brand loyalty. You're not unique in that way. I also make stashes of silly things from back home.

It's called having an experience.

No, it means exactly the same.
The active ingredients have to be exactly the same.

That's what homeopathy believers say...

There's actually another reason why a doctor may choose a branded drug rather than it's generic equivalent so perhaps I was being a bit unfair to MC's doctor.

The reason: Apathy.

Apparently there's only one insurance company which has a requirement that a generic is used.

The others don't care and why should a doctor bother to save money by using a generic when there's nothing personally in it for them and they have no other requirement to use one.

Mine here only uses generics where possible as he spent a few years working for the NHS so it's firmly ingrained in his automatic choice.

Having an experience with what? A certain brand? Others have good experiences with other brands. Your point?

For some it's Nurofen for others it's Algifor or whatever.

Everybody should ask for generics (especially when they go to the doctor if it's going to be reimbursed by health insurance), keeps the costs down.

In all fairness, if they prescribe you painkillers they usually go for generics in my experience. No difference whatsoever. Even some pharmacists offer you this choice.

Empiricism above rationalism?

An empiricist would keep looking for Nurofen because there's past experience with it. A rationalist would just read 200 mg ibuprofen and get the pills regardless of the commercial name on the box.

The pharmacist always offers me the option of a generic brand.

Sadly the same with many other drugs - and dangerously so with antibiotic use.
It takes much more time to explain the reasons, risks, dangers, etc- than just reaching for the prescription pad and give the patient for they 'want' or think they need.

Hey guys,

I've learned a lot reading through this thread. I rarely need medication so it was good to catch up on how to buy painkillers in Switzerland.

Remember, not everyone is as smart here as you might think.

One thing confuses me in this discussion, when I was reading up on generics and checked with my reliable pharmacist (friend), she said that there's a range for generics, not exact equality. So, simplified example - generic has to be 90% as good as original to be considered equal. Number is for the illustration purposes here.

However, issue lies that any generic doesn't have to be checked against original, but - against any other already approved generic.

So that could mean that if you have a chain of generics which get approved one after another, even if first differs from the original by 10% (from the imaginary example above), the 5th in the row could differ from the original for much more, because of that chain.

Can you please double check that, who is allowed as a benchmark? I think I didn't misunderstood her, but better to have two sources on it

Also, my friend said, that even with that caveat, she still strongly agrees that generics are almost always perfectly suitable and even completely interchangeable.

One (common) situation where they aren't interchangeable, or more precisely - you should stick to one brand - is for thyroid hormones.
But even there, no one says that original is the only one good, just that you shouldn't mix brands, since it takes weeks for your body to adapt and unless you have very good reason to change the brand, just don't do it, since dosage might not be the same among brands.

All other meds I've received here in Germany are pure generics, and I must say that I really like that I can call them by active ingredient + manufacturer and not by brand name. It's much clearer

We're talking about painkillers, not weed.

Normally I'm always given/prescribed generic drugs, but for some reason, the migraine tablets I'm prescribed are "brand" - Zomig - no idea the reason why.

You obviously can find any medicine in CH but painkillers or other over the counter meds are so much cheaper elsewhere. I always thought this is one (main) of the reasons many folks here recommend their countrymen to bring this sort of stuff when they move to CH. But well, it appears some folks truly believe generic versions or other completely interchangeable brands are not as good so...each to their own.

Apparently not. Is there anyone here who wasn't exposed to aggressive marketing "back home"?

With prescription-only drugs it's not always as easy, practical or worthwhile for other manufacturers to try to market generic versions.

There are a number of related products to the one you mention (I even remember working on one of earlier ones at Glaxo back in the 1990s) which may not all work in exactly the same way for everyone, so there's no real standard product to copy and the market size for each just wouldn't be worth it. And the timescales are not in favour either, given that patent protection lasts a long time and it's likely that newer better version will come along in the future.

What we've been talking about is mainly for OTC medicines and commonly prescribed painkillers and the like, many of which are cheap simple to produce and have been around and well understood for decades. We're talking of pills that can be produced literally ten for a penny, so the potential for generics to undercut brand prices and still make a decent profit are huge, which just wouldn't be true with many more speciality prescription drugs.

I generally don't think explaining rare side effects or risks is a good idea - ethically you should - but the Nocebo Effect is real!