An
article published in
Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety notes that over two-thirds of generic drugs in the U.S. have safety warning labels that differ from the equivalent brand-name medications.
According to the lead author, Jon Duke, "generic drug labels may contain incomplete or incorrect safety information." This becomes problematic when the generic label is used by the physician to make prescribing decisions. If side effects, information on durg interactions or other safety issues are not in the label, then the patient may be at an increased risk for adverse events.
Out of more than 1,000 generic drugs, nearly 70% had some discrepancies in their safety labeling. Strikingly, 9% had differences of more than 10 side effects.
