21 June 2007

Generic Medical Equipment

Generic drugs have become more and more prevalent as patents expire and health care costs balloon. Market share and profits have increased for generic drugs.

A similar idea is now being attempted for medical equipment, which also have limited patents like drugs. But there is no generic medical equipment sector like there is a generic drug sector.

The Health Care Blog recently interviewed the chief of Generic Medical Devices which is attempting to break into this sector.

This certainly has the potential to further reduce health care costs, which is good. But generic drugs are not exactly the same as the original products. The FDA allows a 10% variance in the dose contained in generic drugs, meaning that if you need 10mg of active ingredient, you will get anywhere between 9-11mg. So the obvious question as far as medical equipment is concerned is how stringent the quality control standards will be.

If quality is maintained, generic medical devices should present a good way to reduce costs and make money for investors.

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