Cipla's (Indian) version of Avodart, commonly known to the US holder
of the patent on Dutasteride (the active ingredient of Avodart) as a
pirate drug. There is no such thing as a "generic" Avodart, using the
common meaning of the term "generic" which is to say a drug containing
the active ingredient of the brand name in the same quantity etc and
approved by the FDA.

OTOH Cipla is a large company supplying the Indian market and
presumably has had Duprost approved by the Indian version of the FDA.
Most people here (including myself) will attest to the comparability
of the Indian "pirates" with their much pricier US counterparts.  

Probably to the first and yes to the second. If you go ahead and want
to make sure it's working have your MD test for the value of DHT in
your blood (after an appropriate time). It should be very low or
undetectable.

There's a Greek study (recent) using army recruits where they
established the values for all common hormones for all inductees for a
period of time. Each recruit was given a diary to record their orgasms
(presumably they mean ejaculations) each day. After some time they
collected the diaries and ranked all participants by their number of
orgasms. They then went back and compared this list with the hormone
values captured at the start. Guys who had the most orgasms (and
presumably the most sex) also had the highest DHT, in fact the DHT
levels essentially paralleled the sex (orgasm) levels right down the
line. The lesson: the higher your DHT the more of a stud you are (at
least in the Greek army <g>).

Of course there's other questions about this study: Is DHT a causative
or follower chemical, IOW do they have high DHT because they have lots
of sex or does the high DHT cause them to have lots of sex? Does the
pattern continue into later life? Does it translate to other
nationalities? Were there enough participants to draw conclusions
applicable to the population as a whole? Etc, etc.

There have also been some nasty rumors about finisteride and this drug
turning you permanently impotent, but the FDA would never let a drug
on the market that destroyed the only reason for living for many of
us, would they?