Abstract
The entry of the generic drugs on the market was an impressive development of the pharmaceutical industry and due to their lower prices also a decrease in the cost price for the treatment of patients. The difference in price (sometimes even 50%) between generics and original and different response to therapy sometimes raised serious questions related to their therapeutic equivalence. The scientific community is increasingly interested in this aspect, with studies (in vitro and on patients) demonstrated statistically significant differences in terms of differences generic / original drug. In this context, the aim of our study was to assess the in vitro cytotoxic activity of oxaliplatin (original and generic drug) on DLD-1 cell lines, HT-29, and carboplatin cytotoxic activity (and the reference molecule from Santa Cruz Biotechnology) on cell line A2780. Cell viability was evaluated using the MTT assay.
Regarding the cell line DLD-1, IC50 values of generics was lower than the original after exposure for 24 hours to oxaliplatin but after 48 hours of exposure were not statistically significant differences. HT-29 line has a higher resistance to chemotherapy compared with oxaliplatin, the IC 50 values after 48 hours of exposure are higher than those for the line DLD-1. IC50 values are confirmed by morphological analysis of cells. Regarding carboplatin were not recorded statistically significant differences between the two generic drugs tested.
Although other studies reported differences between generic and branded drugs in terms of hypersensibility reactions, adverse effects and efficacity, we cannot extrapolate our findings to the patients. Further studies on patients are neeeded for a better evaluation of the efficacity of generic vs. original drugs.