Drug Costs

[OhMari]

The point is, there is a generic version of this drug. The pharmacist told me there was. She just couldn't fill the perscription that way because of the way the doctor wrote it. If the doctor won't change it, we will be seeing a different doctor. As much as I want my DD's complexion to be beautiful, I'm not paying $400 a month for it.

It sounds like the dermatologist put you on the strongest medicine for acne that is out there. I know some people pay this amount for thier kids because they have the kind of acne that will pit their face. I would definately get a second opinion. My son has a sulfur medicine, plus acne cream.

A couple of months ago, I was having trouble with this Dr. because he would pick one of my sons acne and call it surgery. My ins. would not pay, I had to fight the ins. company to pay and I had the Dr. stop picking the acne and code the office visit to my ins. satisfaction.

Also the medicine that was perscribed has a 30% chance of passing a birth defect onto babies if you become pregnant, male or female. Just a warning for you to read the label if you get the medicine.

 

[DawnCt1]

I thought that perscribing antibiotics for acne had gone by the wayside...you might want to do some research on the practice even if your insurance company does agree to cover the drug. Antibiotics for acne are something that I'd only consider as a last resort before Accutane...too many possible side effects/resistances.

The purpose of antibiotic therapy is to reduce the population of P.acnes bacteria and thus reduce inflamation and is still a therapy used today. I wouldn't consider it for mild acne which usually responds to topicals (including topical antibiotics) but Doxycycline, erythromicin, minocycline and tetraclycline are still used. Tetracycline will discolor developing teeth.

 

[clutter]

There is no difference in generic drugs, I'm not sure why some people think their is...their just isnt- the color might be different or the shape, but the chemical composition of them is the same

Brandy

If only that was 100% true. When I take the generic version of my bcp, I get weird, paranoid and cranky! My doctor agreed, there can be variations (within certain parameters) with generics, and that can affect some people. Not all, but some. Generally, I take generics when I can, but they are not always the same.

Now if they would only come out with the generic version of Zyrtec!

 

[chyam]

Okay I have to jump in here.

There is a reason some drugs have a generic and some don't- its all about the patent for the drug....When say- Merck developed Singulair, the FDA, gives them X years (I believe its 5) when no other company can manufacture singulair- or the generic (which i dont believe there is yet)..

I attended a wellness conference, and a leading pharmacutical (sorry cant spell tonight) company sent reps. What they didnt realize is their was also specialists in drugs their...

Basically- the majority of the time, the same company that makes the name brand drug- will produce the generic...

There is no difference in generic drugs, I'm not sure why some people think their is...their just isnt- the color might be different or the shape, but the chemical composition of them is the same

Brandy

I work for a pharmaceutical company and I have to agree with this poster....I see it on a daily basis. One day the name brand drug is made and the next the generic........it's also that way for many foods. When I was a teenager I worked in a canning factory in the summer, we ran so many cases of xxxx brand then just changed the labels on the machine to another name and kept right on running.

 

[LoveWDW]

If only that was 100% true. When I take the generic version of my bcp, I get weird, paranoid and cranky! My doctor agreed, there can be variations (within certain parameters) with generics, and that can affect some people. Not all, but some. Generally, I take generics when I can, but they are not always the same.

Now if they would only come out with the generic version of Zyrtec!

I have another case where I switched to the generic of an allergy drug and found that it was not the same. I had to go back to the brand name drug.

 

[KellyLynn]

I have to take a blood thinner that coast close to $2000.00 a month of which I pay 400.00 copay.

 

[Geoff_M]

I work for a pharmaceutical company and I have to agree with this poster....I see it on a daily basis. One day the name brand drug is made and the next the generic........it's also that way for many foods.

If you work in the industry, then you know you can't make that blanket statement. It's true that some "branded" pharma companies have "in-house" generic lines of drugs, but you can't make the generalization that "a pill, is a pill, is a pill".

We had an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) whose patent had expired. In its Rx doseage the pill was larger than average. We still had a process patent on the "dry compression" technique that made our version of the pill quickly desolve in the patient. Generics makers had to rely on traditional "wet compression" means to press their versions. As a result their pills were "rocks" that often passed out the patients GI tract still partially un-disolved. The generics makers weren't required to show that their version of our drug was "bioequivalent", meaning it delivered the same amount of API into their bloodstream. I can assure you that a company that still holds a process patent advantage to a generic API ain't going to be third-party contract manufacturing products for a generics seller.

I've lost track of the current situation with that API, perhaps since then some generics makers have come up with their own dry compression technology to improve their products. But then again generics makers avoid R&D costs like the plague. Why do it when you can just let "Big Pharma" pay for it and wait for it to fall in your lap!

This isn't to say that generics are "bad" or are rarely bioequivalent, just that you can't make the "Del Monte or Kroger brand green beans... no difference... they come off of the same line" assumption or analogy.

 

[Christine]

If you work in the industry, then you know you can't make that blanket statement. It's true that some "branded" pharma companies have "in-house" generic lines of drugs, but you can't make the generalization that "a pill, is a pill, is a pill".

We had an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) whose patent had expired. In its Rx doseage the pill was larger than average. We still had a process patent on the "dry compression" technique that made our version of the pill quickly desolve in the patient. Generics makers had to rely on traditional "wet compression" means to press their versions. As a result their pills were "rocks" that often passed out the patients GI tract still partially un-disolved. The generics makers weren't required to show that their version of our drug was "bioequivalent", meaning it delivered the same amount of API into their bloodstream. I can assure you that a company that still holds a process patent advantage to a generic API ain't going to be third-party contract manufacturing products for a generics seller.

I've lost track of the current situation with that API, perhaps since then some generics makers have come up with their own dry compression technology to improve their products. But then again generics makers avoid R&D costs like the plague. Why do it when you can just let "Big Pharma" pay for it and wait for it to fall in your lap!

This isn't to say that generics are "bad" or are rarely bioequivalent, just that you can't make the "Del Monte or Kroger brand green beans... no difference... they come off of the same line" assumption or analogy.

Geoff, thanks for that explanation. I think that is what I was *trying* to get at in my post about the Prilosec. The patent for the processing method has not been given out. The Prilosec OTC does not work (and the pharmacist told me that he has had MORE complaints about Prilosec OTC than anything he's ever seen).

 

[CheshireVal]

If only that was 100% true. When I take the generic version of my bcp, I get weird, paranoid and cranky! My doctor agreed, there can be variations (within certain parameters) with generics, and that can affect some people. Not all, but some. Generally, I take generics when I can, but they are not always the same.

Now if they would only come out with the generic version of Zyrtec!

My doctor advised me *not* to take the generic bcp for that very reason. She said it's also not quite as effective.

 

[catherine]

I can't imagine having to pay for my children's prescriptions, and that amount of money is ridiculous!

 

[ReggieB]

And that's WITH insurance....???!!!

I think the doctor should have been a little more upfront about cost. He must have had his reasons. I guess you'll have to go back and get him to convince you!

 

[mafibisha]

If only that was 100% true. When I take the generic version of my bcp, I get weird, paranoid and cranky! My doctor agreed, there can be variations (within certain parameters) with generics, and that can affect some people. Not all, but some. Generally, I take generics when I can, but they are not always the same.!

Exactly. Generics aren't always the same, and usually, they're not at all.

There are binders, fillers and coatings that can make a big difference in how in how a drug dissolves and is excreted.
That means a drug can *dump* its active ingredient much sooner (or later) than it should, which alters its efficacy and safety.

I agree that drug companies shouldn't have to make such a huge profit but consider this:

They DO need to make a profit because they do 95% of the new life saving and life extending and life improving therapies. If they don't make a profit, there will be no (or less) research and less of this *modern medicine*.

As one company puts it:

"Today's medicines fund tomorrow's miracles."

(no, i don't work for a drug company ! )

 

[Feralpeg]

After speaking with the doctor, we will be getting the generic version of the drug. I don't know how much it will be yet. The doctor said that the drug reps don't give them much information about the generic versions of the drugs so they are never sure about side-effects. She said to just watch DD when she starts the pills and report anything unusual. I would do that with any new drug. Thank you all for your support!

 

[Towncrier]

There is no difference in generic drugs, I'm not sure why some people think their is...their just isnt- the color might be different or the shape, but the chemical composition of them is the same

Just because the drugs have the same active ingredients, they are not always bioinequivalent. Dilantin vs the generic phenytoin sodium is a gdod example. The generic form of this drug has a much different rates at which the body absorbs and/or uses the drug (also known as pharmacokinetics). The brand name version of the drug can be taken as one large dose once a day (usually at bedtime) whereas the generic form must be taken in several doses throughout the day to have the same effect. There have been numerous studies that support this fact.

So there CAN be a difference between generic drugs and brand names. Sometimes it makes a difference, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[Geoff_M]

Glad to hear that things appear to be working out for you.

The doctor said that the drug reps don't give them much information about the generic versions of the drugs so they are never sure about side-effects.

There's several good reasons why the drug reps don't talk about the generic versions of their products. The obvious reason is because generics are "the competition". But just as important, it wouldn't be responsible to have them speak to doctors about generics because they wouldn't have any idea which generic manufacturer's product the patient's local pharmacy might dispense. Since different generics could behave in different ways, it would be wreckless for a branded drug's rep to try detail them to the docs. If the generics companies want to pay to send out reps to detail their products they can, but then again that's not their MO.

 

[nomie74]

I work in a pharmacy and when doctors sign "dispense as written" for brand name products WE call for the patient to get it changed. ( Unless patient wanted brand as well) . There is such a cost difference and with the exception of a few classes of drugs-- thyroid, blood thinners,- the generic's are just as good.