Reassurance about Generic Drugs

The approval, marketing, and use of generic pharmaceutical agents in the United States have expanded greatly over the past two years. This expansion has led to controversy and confusion about equivalency between products, test standards, costs, clinical choices, and public policy. Some of these issues are thoughtfully presented by Strom in this issue of the Journal . 1 The article states that the FDA's current method of approving new generic products, on the basis of bioavailability data, seems to be an acceptable interim approach . . . physicians and patients can continue to consider using generic drugs . . . few . . .