Pharmacist Irina Bulygina revealed the danger of cheap analogues of medicines in an interview with the “360” TV channel.
The specialist noted that the brand cannot be compared with a generic one, since the auxiliary and binders in them may differ. According to her, these substances are most often developed and tested by manufacturers themselves.
“When a generic is released into circulation, so-called bioequivalence or truncated clinical trials are done, because it is not that expensive in terms of money and time,” said Bulygina. Manufacturers simply check that the drug has entered the bloodstream and then excreted from the body after some time, after which it is believed that the drug is working. However, no therapeutic equivalence to the original drug is carried out, the specialist emphasized.
Bulygina added that generics can be taken, for example, for headaches, but for chronic diseases it is better to use original medicines. Analogs can lead to side effects, she said.
Earlier, scientists at the Yale University School of Medicine in the United States found that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs during COVID-19 are dangerous and can interfere with the fight of the immune system against coronavirus.