Some are available in less-expensive generic versions. Prescription drugs Prescription medicines must be administered under a doctor's supervision or require a doctor's authorization for purchase. The medicine itself may cause side effects that a doctor needs to monitor. The same symptoms may be caused by different diseases that only a doctor can diagnose. The different causes may require different medicines.
Some medicines can be dangerous when used to treat the wrong disease.
You can successfully diagnose many common aliments and treat them yourself with readily available OTC products. These range from acne products to cold medications. As with prescription drugs, we closely regulate OTC drugs to ensure that they are safe, effective and properly labeled. A generic drug is a chemical copy of a brand-name drug. Generic drugs approved by the FDA have the same therapeutic effects as their brand-name counterparts.