Why are generics cheaper?

The difference in price is due to research costs. Before a medicine is approved, the drug company that developed it would have spent large sums of money on research and development. Once for sale on the market, this drug company will try to recover these costs and try to make a good profit on their investment. Generic medicines are cheaper as the manufacturers don’t have the associated costs for the long and expensive process of research and development. Other drug companies can simply copy the ingredients once the patent period has expired. Therefore, the medication ingredients used are the same as branded medications, they are just manufactured and sold at cheaper costs.

Updated on: 20/11/2025