MSNBC report questioning generic AD's...

[totoro]

I have read that a lot of generics are not as good as the original, that they do not have to follow the same "recipe" to the letter... of course most doctor's say they are the same... I am on generic Zoloft- Sertraline... I have asked. Hmmm Maybe I will ask again.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21142869/#.U4-V7yhX-IQ

 

[smallworld]

When M was put on Prozac in fall 2006, her psychiatrist insisted that it be brand. It was mostly because he wanted to make sure the formulation she got every month was the same. Some medications have generics that are produced by more than one drug company, and therefore, could be slightly different formulations every month (although the active ingredients are supposed to be identical).

 

[BusynMember]

It's true. However, I use generics (cheaper and insurance coverage) and they work fine for me. Depends on the person and the medication. And the company producing the medication.

 

[Sheila]

difficult child's doctor will not allow generic for Adderall.

husband's doctor will no longer allow the generic for his blood pressure medicine. husband tried the generic and there was a problem.

It's my understanding that generic's are not 100% the same as the brand names.

 

[Sheila]

MSNBC is getting some interesting feedback.

 

[totoro]

I had asked my family doctor about my Sertraline and how do I know for sure if it is the same for me??? How do you know, unless you try the brand name and the generic? What if I took the Brand name Zoloft and it was better??? Interesting....

Thanks Smallword my brain was sleeping still... I could only think of the word "Recipe" LOL formulation...

I am on my first cup of coffee still...

That doesn't even get into the costs for people... not even on the AD's ... all of K's Brand name medications are 50$ or generic 10$... when she was on 4 medications!!! And husband and I are on medications also!!! Yikes...

 

[totoro]

Shoot my Mac wont let me open the feedback... does not support Safari... LAME

 

[OpenWindow]

I'm on a mac and it's working on firefox. I love firefox, its worth the download.

 

[4sumrzn]

Working in the pharmacy field for 13 years & in my opinion too.....FDA requires the active ingredients to be the same/equal. The fillers can be different....some bodies respond to fillers differently. I have always "preferred" brand name over generic when financially able to. Generic has become popular & working fine these day though :wink: Oh...I forgot...I didn't check out the original part of the post yet....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21142869/

 

[susiestar]

My pharmacist says that the problems are most likely to occur if you are switching from one brand to another. Even generics are made by different companies. So what you get one month, made by company A, is within a certain level of change from the original brand. Then, you get a generic made by company B the next month. Company B's pill is also within X percentage of the original, but may be quite a bit different than Company A'a. One could be over the original brand, the other could be under. So if the tolerance is 3%, and A is 3% more than the original brand, then B is 3% under the original brand, well, you get a difference of more than 3%. The numbers are ones I picked to illustrate the problem.

My pharmacy tries to make sure they can buy a medication from a company for at least a year. They say the problems are most often noticed in birth control pills and seizure medications. NOT areas I would want to experiment with.

Susie

 

[mrscatinthehat]

I noticed a huge difference when I took paxil then went to a generic the first time. When I switched to a different pharmacy and the generic was different wow it hardly seemed to work at all. Not all medications i think are like that but I can see where some are.

Beth

 

[SnowAngel]

Totally correct. I used to work in a pharmacy. The generics dont have the same ingredients. They use different Fillers( the stuff that holds the pill together),dyes, and in some cases capsils. These differences in the pills to some people who may have a slight allergy to a Filler ingredient, can be the reason they dont work as well as the name brand. However most pharmacists wont tell you that.

Some generics are even produced by the same company as the name brand using the same recipe using the generic name and changing the look of the pill slightly, so either way they dont loose the $$$.