it appears that Diflucan is now available as a generic.
does anybody have any experience with the generic?
i always worry that the generic is a cut-rate version of the brand name, and as a result does not work as well.
thanks bill
Posted by snapdragon (Member # 6706) on :
I'm a nurse, but not an expert. Pharmacutical companies spend millions of dollars and many years making a drug. Once fda certified they get a patent for a certain number of yrs (10,i think). Then the"recipe" is allowed to go to other pharmacutical companies, who can sell it cheap because they don't have a big investment into the drug. the drug is supposed to be the same recipe. I dont know if it's fda certified. I've never taken the generic of that drug. But generics of other drugs seem to work the same as the originals.
Posted by Laurie (Member # 159) on :
I'm never thrilled when a drug goes over-the-counter because then it's not covered by insurance, but I'm pleased when a drug goes generic, because the price finally goes down for those who have to pay out-of-pocket and for the MOST part I've found generics do the job pretty well. But that is definitely only for the MOST part. I've had mixed results; one of my anti-inflammatories went generic, and one manufacturer's version worked fine, but another was almost totally ineffectual. One of my doctors told me that the companies are only required to put a certain percentage -- don't remember but maybe 70%? -- of the active ingredient in them. When Prozac went generic I didn't do well at all, and still have to take double the dose even though I understand the generic has improved. I was cautious when Neurontin went generic, but so far so good. I guess it's a crap shoot.
Posted by Kara Tyson (Member # 939) on :
I have taken it. Seems to be fine to me.
Posted by nannie (Member # 5250) on :
The Hatch Waxman Act has info about the generic drug percentage differences. Off the top of my head, I seem to recall 80% similarity.
Generic manufactures do have to file with the FDA, but the approval is much shorter. The generic of Diflucan/fluconazole, has a number of different manufacturers. This is good from the standpoint thta it lowers the cost of the drug, but bad from the standpoint that, given the large number, there may be overcapacity which might result in pharmacies and PBM's generic brand switching-the larger the number of brands, the less likely a pharmacy or PBM is to stick with one particular generic brand (price breaks).
I tried the Sandoz generic form of fluconazole, and, although I am on different meds, it seemed to work well form me. I also liked it because it is white-no dyes, which removes a variable (dyes)for folks who are med sensitive (like me).