Substitution

When you buy prescription medicine at the pharmacy, you may find that the medicine you receive looks different from what you usually get, or that it has a different name than the one written on your prescription. This is because the pharmacy must always offer you the cheapest alternative to the medicine you have been prescribed, so that you can save money.

Same effect and safety

Medicines consist of one or more active substances and some excipients. While the active substance is responsible for the therapeutic effect on a given disease or specific symptoms, the excipients give the medicine colour, form and taste.  When the pharmacist offers you a cheaper alternative to what you have been prescribed, the active substance is always the same, but the excipients could be different. 

All medicines must meet the same requirements for efficacy, safety and quality regardless of the name, price, form and taste.

Why are you offered the cheapest medicine?

When a pharmaceutical company develops a new medicine, it is called the original medicine, and it is typically patented for a period of around 10 years. This means that no other companies are allowed to “copy” the medicine or try to make the same medicine at a lower price. When the patent period expires, other companies are allowed to “copy” the medicine and produce so-called generic or biosimilar medicines – that is, medicines that work in the same way and treat the same condition as the original product.. When several versions of the same medicine are available, they can compete with each other, which leads to lower prices.

In this way, both you and society save money on medicine expenses.

You decide

The pharmacy must always offer you the cheapest alternative to your medicine – unless your doctor has stated otherwise on your prescription. When the pharmacy offers you a cheaper alternative to the medicine you are to receive, you can always choose to decline. You decide whether you want the more expensive or the cheaper version of the medicine. Which product is the cheapest may change from one visit to the next, as medicine prices are adjusted every 14 days.

Good advice for medicine users

• Memorise the name of the active substance contained in your medicine.
• Don’t remove the label from the package. It tells you which active substance is contained in the medicine.
• Always tell your doctor if you have allergies.
• Ask your pharmacy or doctor if you are unsure about how to take the medicine.