Rx drugs: get the best for less.(CR Health)

The newest, and most heavily advertised, prescription medications are more expensive but not necessarily more effective than older drugs in their class. And, by definition, new drugs have a shorter safety record than older ones, which have already been used by many more people.

For these reasons, drugs that have gone off patent and are available as therapeutically-equivalent generics are often--but not always--the medications of choice. This according to Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, a new public education initiative from Consumers Union, publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS. The free Web site CRBestBuyDrugs.org offers consumers a place to check on the efficacy, safety, and price of medications. Launched in December, it currently includes assessments of three widely used drug categories: heartburn drugs, pain-relievers for arthritis, and cholesterol-lowering statins. Drugs selected as CR Best Buys cost far less, but areas safe and effective as others in their class, according to expert medical panels from the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, a 12-state nonprofit initiative.

There are five CR Best Buy drugs in the three categories: three generics and two brandname drugs, one sold by prescription and the other over-the-counter. While generics are almost always less expensive, one brand-name prescription drug with no generic equivalent rose to the top because it was deemed more effective than competing drugs.

Among statins, for example, generic ...