Author: Amon NSENGIMANA

We people can interpret morning differently; there are those who may consider it as the time at which they wake up yet people wake up at different hours.

Similarly, evening can be interpreted differently; some people may think it’s the time they go to bed or time they go to dinner which might vary along the week days or vary between people. All in all ,it’s not only the amount of medications to take that matters but also how often to take them is vital to maximizing the therapeutic effectiveness.

Consideration must always be given to the actual time of administration so that a sufficient period occurs between doses.

For some medicines it doesn’t matter what time you take them. But for others, the Pharmacist will recommend to take them at the same time each day. Medications taken regularly ensure that you have an effective amount of drug in your body at all times.

Though they are meant to improve our health, medications can harm us when not properly taken. When they are not taken regularly, the level of drug in the blood can become either too low to be effective or too high and damages the body organs like kidney or liver.

For each drug to reach to the unhealthy part of the body; it is first absorbed into the blood. The blood then distributes the drug through the body. Each drug has a maximum level of concentration in the blood that when it goes beyond it becomes no longer beneficial but rather toxic to the body.

The moment you start taking your medication, its level of concentration in the blood raises and later falls down to its minimum level as the body breaks down the active ingredients and eliminates the waste from the body.

That minimum level is called minimum effective concentration, below which the drug becomes not effective but rather the body becomes used to the medication and consequently in the future use of the same drug, the drug doesn’t bring the same benefits or effects as before.

Therefore, taking your next dose on time helps to ensure that the already reached drug in the blood stays above the lowest useful level/minimum effective concentration.

Taking a dose too soon could lead to drug levels that are too high, whereas waiting too long between doses could lower the amount of drug in your body and keep it from working properly.

Healthcare providers should make it clear on how many hours apart are between doses so that side effects can be minimized. The routine of telling patients to take their medication in the morning, noon, and in the evening, leaves the ambiguity and may cause other issues as it is not clear at what exact time is in the morning or the evening.

When your healthcare providers didn’t clarify your dosing intervals, it is simple to calculate but people need to make sure the schedule is according to their daily routine. For instance, medications that are to be taken three times a day are to be taken every eight hours.

They are not to be taken morning, noon and evening as most of us are led to believe. To know how to calculate it, you simply take 24 hours and divide by the number of times your medication ought to be taken per day. You will find how many hours should be between doses or dosing intervals.

{{Author:Amon NSENGIMANA.
Registered Pharmacist}}

Pharmacists oftentimes hear this from various clients. I have been working in a Pharmacy for last five months in addition to my internship period but this statement has come to my ears a hundred times.

People are most concerned because brand drugs are most of the time more expensive than their generic versions. They wonder if the quality and effectiveness have been compromised to make the less expensive products.

However, people should know that a generic drug has the same amount and type of active principle, the same route of administration, and the same therapeutic effectiveness as the original drug. So there’s no truth in the myths that generic drugs are manufactured in poorer-quality facilities or are inferior in quality to brand-name drugs.

When a pharmaceutical company develops a new drug for a certain disease condition, that drug is initially sold under a brand name.

After a drug is discovered, the original manufacturer is given rights to sell that drug for a certain period of time without anyone else authorized to sell the same drug(Patent protection).That company will be the only one with full authority to manufacture, market and benefit from that drug.

However, this authority will not last forever; it has a lifetime that varies between countries and drugs but globally the maximum is 20 years.

Since the pharmaceutical company has spent millions of dollars on research, development, clinical trials, marketing and promotion of the said drug, it is only fair that a relatively higher price be placed upon a brand drug than on its generic versions.

As the patent nears expiration, other manufacturers can apply to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for permission to make and sell the same drug. Only then can the generic versions of the drug be manufactured.

The brand drug only belongs to the first developer of the drug. Without the costs of research, drug development and clinical trials other companies can afford to make and sell generic drugs cheaply.

Moreover, when multiple companies begin producing and selling a drug, the competition among them can drive the price of the drug down even further. That’s why generic drugs are cheap because the manufacturers have not had the expenses of developing, clinical trials and marketing a new drug.

Sometimes, generic versions of a drug might have different colors, flavors, or combinations of inactive ingredients than the original medications. However, Food and Drug Authorities require that generic drugs work as fast and as effectively as the initial brand-name products.

Generic drugs will not look exactly like the brand-name preparation, but the active ingredients must be the same in both preparations, ensuring that both have the same medicinal effects.

The fact that a certain drug is cheap does not equate being fake or substandard. People should not spend a lot of money on brand drugs (Specialite) unless they can afford them. Even those who can afford the relatively expensive brand drugs would better think of saving some money by buying generic drugs, since they are both effective.

{{Author: Amon NSENGIMANA,
Registered Pharmacist }}