Crestor, Lipitor...or the Generic

[creditcardfree]

Carbamazepine sure does "cover up" my "symptoms", but no amount of açaí and quinoa are going to cure what causes my seizures.

Yep, my BIL has seizures, so I know that those medications are helpful, yet the side effects are scary (suicidal thoughts). Although my BIL could sure do a lot more to help his physical body through nutrition, not to say that would be a cure for him either.

First world country foods, even those whole foods grown in our soils, are deficient in nutrients. Where do we think we will be long term health wise if are lacking in those things are bodies need? And supplements don't fully address the problems, as some of those nutrients are not absorb correctly by our bodies because of the way they are produced.

Enough said...don't want to hijack the thread further.

[Like2Plan]

Here is another article:

The Truth About Generic Vs. Brand-Name Medications
From the article:
"Q: Do generics have to have the same recipe, effect, side effects?
A: “The generics have to have the number of milligrams of drug that is included on the label in the pills. You can take it to the bank that that does not vary. In addition, the pill needs to get you within 10 percent above or below the blood concentrations achieved with the brand for the FDA to approve the generic, and in reality, they only usually vary by 3-4 percent in one direction or another. So yes, they are very similar in terms of the active ingredient. It is possible that one generic will get you a 3 percent lower concentration than the brand and another can get you a concentration that is 3 percent above the brand and therefore the two generics can be 6% different from each other. Most people will never notice a difference.

According to the FDA, generic drugs do not need to contain the same inactive ingredients as the brand name product. Inactive ingredients are those that have nothing to do with the therapeutic action of the drug; binding materials, dyes, preservatives, and flavoring agents. That’s why sometimes a pill you have been taking will suddenly look different. It usually means a different manufacturer has made that pill than the one you had before. Also, given individual variations, a person can have an allergic reaction to an inactive ingredient in one generic and not another.”
"

[Nutria]

Yep, my BIL has seizures, so I know that those medications are helpful, yet the side effects are scary (suicidal thoughts).

There are 15 train-loads of different anti-convulsants. Maybe a medicine change would help. My original neurologist wanted to put me on Dilantin, but I refused because of the side-effects. The drug I'm on now makes me a bit sensitive to light, and can mess up the liver, but no problems yet after decades of use.

[disneysteve]

From the article:
"Because brand-name drugs reap such huge rewards, pharmaceutical companies have begun to resort to controversial ways to protect their monopoly.

I hate to defend Big Pharma but this quote reads like there is some evil plot afoot.

Look, it costs well over $2 billion dollars to bring a new drug to market. And for every compound that successfully gets to the retail stage, there are many that fail somewhere along the line and get cut from the line up. So although bringing drug A to market may have cost $2 billion, that was only after drugs B, C, D, and E failed after the company spent a couple billion more researching them. So the new product hits the street with the company several billion in the hole. They have a limited time (patent life) during which to recoup their R&D costs and collect a profit for their troubles, hence the major marketing blitz and sky high prices.

As the patent life nears its end, the companies start getting nervous, especially if the drug hasn't brought in as much as they had hoped. Once the generic comes out, their sales drop off dramatically, so it is in their best interests to delay the generic if possible, even if it costs them millions of dollars to do so because the potential return can be many times greater than that cost. It certainly isn't very consumer friendly, but those profits help fund future R&D costs to develop the next blockbuster drug.

The problem is that the public wants it all. They want newer, better, safer drugs but they want them at the lowest possible cost. Sadly, it just doesn't work that way.

The great news is that today, we have excellent generics for almost everything. Somewhere around 80% of all prescriptions are for generic drugs. This is far different than in was when I first went into practice in the 1990s when very little was generic. And we continue to get more generics every year - like Crestor, the original topic of this thread.

[Nutria]

The problem is that the public wants it all. They want newer, better, safer drugs but they want them at the lowest possible cost. Sadly, it just doesn't work that way.

You'd think that people who have been promised the moon for decade after decade after decade after decade after decade after decade after decade after decade but get nothing but chicken liver would have learned by now. But conspiracy is still more comforting than reality.

[Like2Plan]

I hate to defend Big Pharma but this quote reads like there is some evil plot afoot.

I don't think it is some evil plot. I would much rather get the name brand. But, the context of the article was that some of the generics have gone up quite a bit--they were trying to explain some of the reasons why.

[ESMonitor]

I picked up my Crestor script today during lunch and paid $32 like a chump. I was not aware of the $3 coupon on Crestor website, thanks again, Steve.

In typical weirdness that's the norm these days for me, because I didn't even know this thread had posted ystdy; it froze up, but I am glad that it somehow did. Just wish I had read thread before trip to pharmacy today.

I originally took Lipitor and it would slash my numbers in half from 300 to 150.
Never had any issues with Lipitor.

Then I had to switch to the generic which I believe was Simvastatin. That's the one that gave me muscle soreness if I remember correctly.

[disneysteve]

I picked up my Crestor script today during lunch and paid $32 like a chump. I was not aware of the $3 coupon on Crestor website, thanks again, Steve.

Never had any issues with Lipitor.

Then I had to switch to the generic which I believe was Simvastatin. That's the one that gave me muscle soreness if I remember correctly.

You're welcome. Hopefully you can make use of the $3 coupon next time around.

Simvastatin is the generic of Zocor, not Lipitor. That would be Atorvastatin. So the reason you had a problem with the generic may have been because it wasn't Lipitor at all, not because it was a generic.

[disneysteve]

I would much rather get the name brand.

I don't expect to change anyone's mind. I just don't share this view. Anytime any of us needs a prescription, or an over the counter medicine for that matter, we always go for the generic or the store brand in the case of an OTC product. The only exception I can think of is that DW and DD both take Claritin D and insist on the brand (which I'm quite certain is all in their heads but I give in on that one). Everything else we use is generic.

Like I said, about 80% of prescriptions are generic, so not many people are getting brand name meds at this point.

Generic drug costs have shot up a lot, something like over 400% in the past 5 years or so. This is largely due to consolidation in the industry and the resulting lack of competition. A handful of companies now control nearly the entire market.

[Like2Plan]

I don't expect to change anyone's mind. I just don't share this view. Anytime any of us needs a prescription, or an over the counter medicine for that matter, we always go for the generic or the store brand in the case of an OTC product. The only exception I can think of is that DW and DD both take Claritin D and insist on the brand (which I'm quite certain is all in their heads but I give in on that one). Everything else we use is generic.

Like I said, about 80% of prescriptions are generic, so not many people are getting brand name meds at this point.

Generic drug costs have shot up a lot, something like over 400% in the past 5 years or so. This is largely due to consolidation in the industry and the resulting lack of competition. A handful of companies now control nearly the entire market.

That is another worry--that soon the generics will cost as much as the name brand, but not with the same legal protection against harm.

Truth be told, there are medicines that have been around for a while for which I use the generics -- like common antibiotics (I'm not even sure that some of these have a name brand?). But, I really don't want to be switching my thyroid medicine. It took months to get the right dose and everything is good now. So, I don't want to change anything.

[Nutria]

That is another worry--that soon the generics will cost as much as the name brand, but not with the same legal protection against harm.

That's a whole lot of worry about things you just can't change.

Truth be told, there are medicines that have been around for a while for which I use the generics -- like common antibiotics (I'm not even sure that some of these have a name brand?).

Make no mistake: at one time they were Name Brands.

But, I really don't want to be switching my thyroid medicine. It took months to get the right dose and everything is good now. So, I don't want to change anything.

Just like people who were afraid of generic antibiotics. "What if they aren't as effective????"

I took Tegretol for a long time, and from the same fears. But now I've been on carbamazepine for just as long, and it does it's job just as well.

[rennigade]

This thread is making my head hurt. The only MD in here is disneysteve unless im mistaken? Anyone else here work for big pharma or does medical research? If thats the case then everyone is blowing steam and throwing opinions around on a topic they know nothing about other than what they read online. Heck the comments I made were regurgitated from stuff my wife who works for the FDA said. No one can even fathom the process/manpower/money it takes to bring a drug to market. You hear things like $2 billion to bring a drug to market and we can kind of register that...but once you start peeling back the layers of what that $2 billion represents...nah...cant do it.

That has to be so frustrating for a doctor or someone on the inside to hear these comments. Thank the internet for everyone now being an expert on everything.

Im out.

[disneysteve]

That has to be so frustrating for a doctor or someone on the inside to hear these comments. Thank the internet for everyone now being an expert on everything.

Welcome to my world.

Between Google, Dr. Oz, infomercials, direct-to-consumer advertising, and every other form of shoddy medical information out there, our job is definitely far more challenging than it was years ago when if you had a medical question, you went to your doctor.

I spend far too much time combating myths, rumors, and mistruths and sometimes I just can't get a patient to believe reality despite my best efforts. People will believe what they want to believe and many will trust a talk show host or their next door neighbor's cousin's brother-in-law before they'll trust their doctor or pharmacist.

[rennigade]

People will believe what they want to believe and many will trust a talk show host or their next door neighbor's cousin's brother-in-law before they'll trust their doctor or pharmacist.

This is the sad and dangerous truth. People will not only believe what they want regardless of facts but they will listen to people that have absolutely no experience in the field itself.

Probably the poster child for this is jenny mcarthy and her anti vaccine movement. How she continually runs her mouth about how vaccines are causing autism. It becomes dangerous because for whatever reason people listen to these nut jobs. Anyone know her background in medicine? I mean she must have decades of experience to be able to make these claims with such authority.

[Like2Plan]

That's a whole lot of worry about things you just can't change.

You do have some control if you still get the name brand.

Make no mistake: at one time they were Name Brands.

sorry, I should have added--no name brands anymore (on some of the common ones that have been around for ages).

Just like people who were afraid of generic antibiotics. "What if they aren't as effective????"

Thyroid medicine is a little different. As you must have read from the article that I provided regarding generics only have to get the blood levels within 10% of the name brand. From the article: "the pill needs to get you within 10 percent above or below the blood concentrations achieved with the brand for the FDA to approve the generic"

Also, it takes a long time of taking thyroid medicine to be able to measure the effect in the blood. When you go to the pharmacy and fill it with a generic, you could get a generic from company A one time and company B the next refill. And, your dose could be a -10% difference from the brand name for company A and +10% difference from the brand name for company B.