The generic names of medicine should be its chemical composition. Why do people have preference between brands? Branded paracetamol is the same as other paracetamol. Placebo effect?
Because sometimes inactive ingredients can have some sort of effect from minor allergies to slight improvement in intake for a single individual. That can mean not simply difference between brands but difference between generics. There are incidents where a person takes a generic from 1 brand and later on it gets changed to a different generic brand and when people feel the effects are not as good notice the manufacturer changed, so it isn't exactly simply always a placebo.
Yes and No. Sometimes the chemical composition is way harder to remember than the name (i.e. aspirin - acetylsalicylic acid), but the main reason is - as you've stated - branding. The difference between products with the same active ingredient usually boil down to three things: 1. The one who sells it 2. The place it was made 3. Some other stuff that's in it Point 1. is the problem you're talking about, 2. can be useful to differentiate between a flawed product and a harmless one and 3. is vital when it comes to people with allergies or other specific illnesses. Some people need medicine A but will die if they ingest substance B, which is used in the product K sells, but not in the one from Z.
The title can be phrased better, I thought it would be about novels. Here is my one two on the topic, diff companies have diff method of production and thus slight deviations to one another's med. It is called brand differentiation, yes, paracetamol is paracetamol, I have eaten at least five different types of that shit and it works the same for me because I have no allergies to meds, but for others who might be allergic to a company's med, they can always try the other brands. You can go technical and have a list churn out everytime you want to buy a drug, but do you really want to get bogged down by overselection?
I'm not talking about the drugs for serious conditions. I'm just ranting about a person who sent me to buy headache medicine. He thinks one paracetamol is good for fever while another paracetamol is good for pain relief. I was like "They're both paracetamol..." The title is just for fun.
Hmm, paracetamol made by great devil sect should be consumed by someone who practice devil cultivation, you feel allergic because you are not devil cultivator
Well, if it is a one chemical drug, then I agree with naming it the same everywhere, but some companies among Big Pharma love branding and huge profit, so they patent and name things even if they are simple. One example would be the Epipen in the US.
Weird, cuz I recall panadol actually advertise that it has different types of paracetamol, one for regular, one for toothache, one for mensual pain, one for those who are eating way too much everyday.
If it isn't a serious condition, then 9/10 times you shouldn't rely on medicine in the first place. You are generally better off dealing with the source or taking some (safe) herbal alternatives. For example, many headaches are caused by not getting enough oxygen during sleep. Doing some changes to improve your sleep like reduce sinuses or if you have sleep apnea can go a long way.
Brand is a shortcut for customers to gauge the quality of a product after hundred years of evolution, even if it's still kinda misleading. So yup, that might be it.