Generic Drug
Also known as: generic medication, generic equivalent, generic version
Verified from FDA Drugs@FDA Glossary on 06-02-2026A generic drug is a pharmaceutical product designed to be interchangeable with an already-approved brand name drug. FDA evaluates generics for therapeutic equivalence, meaning the generic must contain the same active ingredient in the same amount and meet the same standards for dosage, strength, route of administration, quality, and intended use as the reference brand product. The verbatim definition from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration follows below.
MedivaScan summary. The authoritative source quote follows below.FDA Drugs@FDA Glossary definition
A generic drug is the same as a brand name drug in dosage, safety, strength, how it is taken, quality, performance, and intended use. Before approving a generic drug product, FDA requires many rigorous tests and procedures to assure that the generic drug can be substituted for the brand name drug. The FDA bases evaluations of substitutability, or "therapeutic equivalence," of generic drugs on scientific evaluations. By law, a generic drug product must contain the identical amounts of the same active ingredient(s) as the brand name product. Drug products evaluated as "therapeutically equivalent" can be expected to have equal effect and no difference when substituted for the brand name product.