[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 111 (Tuesday, September 19, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H7742-H7743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BRAND NAME AND GENERIC DRUGS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, does anyone in the Chamber know the 
difference between Zantac and Ranitidine Hydrochloride? Here is the 
answer: Price. Zantac is the brand name of a popular medication to 
treat ulcers. Ranitidine Hydrochloride is the generic name of the exact 
same drug.

[[Page H7743]]

  The Food and Drug Administration ensures that whether a consumer uses 
a drug by its brand name, such as Zantac, or a drug that goes by the 
generic name, such as Ranitidine, they will receive the same active 
ingredients and the same health benefits. To quote FDA Commissioner 
Jane Henney, ``If the FDA declares a generic drug to be therapeutically 
equivalent to an innovator drug, the two products will provide the same 
intended clinical effect.''
  This is important, Mr. Speaker, because if we ever hope to bring 
health care inflation under control, we have to understand that brand 
drugs and generic drugs are truly interchangeable. Through greater use 
of high quality, less costly generic drugs, we can have truly 
affordable and effective medicine.
  If we check our medicine cabinets, we find that there are more 
affordable generics available for many of these expensive 
prescriptions.

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