Switching patients from brand name antiepileptic drugs to generics is generally safe and cost effective according to an analysis published in Epilepsia.
- Researchers looked at data on bioequivalence, health care utilization, and clinical studies on the safety of antiepileptic agents, including a comparison of area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and peak plasma concentration.
- For most of the drugs that were evaluated, there were negligible differences in AUC and peak plasma concentration between generic drugs and brand name equivalents.
- There were significant increases in health care usage when patients were switched from brand name to generic versions.
- Clinical studies were unable to detect differences in seizure frequency or tolerability.
Holtkamp M, Theodore WH. Generic antiepileptic drugs—safe or harmful in patients with epilepsy? Epilepsia. 2018;59(7):1273-1281.
