Don’t look now, but there’s a huge price disparity between brand-name and generic drugs. You probably knew that already. What you might not know is why. If brand-name and generic drugs essentially have the same active ingredients, it stands to reason they should cost about the same at retail. But they do not. Price disparities boil down to two components: FDA approval and patents. Once you understand the influence of these two factors in drug manufacturing, the reason behind price disparities becomes painfully clear. The reason you spend more for a brand-name American drug as opposed to a generic product from an online Canadian pharmacy become self-evident.