Coalition Against Pharma Patent Abuse

These medicines are therapeutically equivalent to their brand-name counterparts, meaning they provide the same clinical benefits at a much lower cost. In 2024 alone, generics saved the U.S. healthcare system $447 billion in prescription drug costs; between 2009 and 2019, generic drugs saved the U.S. healthcare system nearly $2.2 trillion. These savings result from generics costing 80 to 85 percent less than their branded counterparts. For patients, that results in an average co-pay for a generic drug of $6.16, while the average co-pay for a branded drug is $56.12. Although 90% of prescriptions are filled with generic drugs in the U.S., generic drugs account for only 12% of all prescription drug expenditures.