Many years ago, there were a few common reasons for ensuring that brand-name pills were a different color and shape from generics. Besides the notion that a brand-name drugmaker was entitled to patent protection, there were worries that corrupt pharmacists would distribute counterfeit meds and that patients would inadvertently receive a drug that was similar, but not identical to another. But are such concerns still valid today? In a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, a pair of Harvard Medical School researchers argue that such thinking is outdated and, moreover, contrary to sound public policy. Rather, they believe that generic copycats should, in fact, resemble brand-name pills whenever possible.
