SynthesisDrugs2020
Are Generic Drugs Used in Cardiology as Effective and Safe as their Brand-name Counterparts? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Drugs, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can Generic Medications Be a Safe and Effective Alternative to Brand-Name Drugs for Cardiovascular Disease Treatment? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Safety Comparison of Risk of Liver Dysfunction between Generic and Brand Statin Drugs Marketed in Japan: A Cohort Study Using MID-NET®.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Article
- Choice intention for the national volume-based procurement drug and its associated factors: a cross-sectional study on patients with late-life depression in China.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Generic substitution of amlodipine is not associated with increased risk of mortality or adverse cardiovascular events: An observational cohort study.Clinical and translational science · 2024Observational
- Factors influencing drug switching and changes in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels with atorvastatin: a real-world observational study.Lipids in health and disease · 2023Observational
- Clinical outcomes of generic versus brand-name clopidogrel for secondary prevention in patients with acute myocardial infarction: A nationwide cohort study.Clinical and translational science · 2023Article
- Toward Personalized DAPT: Is There an Inter-Manufacturer Difference in Generic Clopidogrel Response?The Journal of invasive cardiology · 2022Article
- Comparative effectiveness of generic nifedipine versus Adalat long-acting nifedipine for hypertension treatment: A multi-institutional cohort study.Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.) · 2022Article
- Clinical Outcome and Medical Cost of Originator and Generic Antihypertensive Drugs: A Population-Based Study in Yinzhou, China.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Pharmacokinetics and Generic Drug Switching: A Regulator's View.Clinical pharmacokinetics · 2020Article
- Using Data from the Canadian Post-marketing Spontaneous Pharmacovigilance System for Drug Safety Research: A Feasibility Study.Pharmaceutical medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevious systematic reviews (2008; 2016) concluded similarity in outcomes between brand-name and generic drugs in cardiology, but they included ≥ 50% comparative bioavailability studies, not designed or powered to detect a difference in efficacy or safety between drug types. We aimed to summarise best-evidence regarding the effectiveness and safety of generic versus brand-name drugs used in cardiology.
methodsFor this systematic review of the literature, scientific databases (MEDLINE and EMBASE) were searched from January 1984 to October 2018. Original research reports comparing the clinical impact of brand-name versus generic cardiovascular drugs on humans treated in a real-life setting, were selected. Meta-analyses and subgroup analyses were performed. Heterogeneity (I
resultsAmong the 3148 screened abstracts, 72 met the inclusion criteria (n ≥ 1,000,000 patients, mean age 65 ± 10 years; 42% women). A total of 60% of studies showed no difference between drug types, while 26% concluded that the brand-name drug was more effective or safe, 13% were inconclusive and only 1% concluded that generics did better. The overall crude risk ratio of all-cause hospital visits for generic versus brand-name drug was 1.14 (95% confidence interval: 1.06-1.23; I
conclusionThe crude risk of hospital visits was higher for patients exposed to generic compared to brand-name cardiovascular drugs. However, the evidence is insufficient and too heterogeneous to draw any firm conclusion regarding the effectiveness and safety of generic drugs in cardiology.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.