Topic: Generic vs. Brand Name Diflucan - difference?
dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
I was wondering what people's experiences are.
I think I read somewhere, sometime, that someone felt that the generic is not as effective as the brand name.
What is your experience?
The $avings is significant if I buy generic......not sure whether to go for it, or pay more for the brand name, which is what I've always done, but it seems silly if the generic is actually EXACTLY the same thing (is it?)
THANKS
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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I was told by Dr W that in general for all abx there's no difference between brand & generic - so he wouldn't advise paying the higher price.
Posts: 83 | From UK | Registered: Oct 2005
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caat
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 2321
posted
the generic works fine for me. Sometimes I need 200mg, but at $49 for 36 200mg tabs at costco, heck, even if I thought the name brand was better I'd go for the generic.
In some states it's mandated by law that you don't need a costco membership to use their pharmacy. For some reason they have a good deal on that amount of flucanazole. The other amounts & mg's are more expensive. I think that deal maybe was set up for AIDs patients.
Posts: 1436 | From Humboldt county ca usa | Registered: Mar 2002
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Sue vG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3143
posted
Hi DLL!
I have the same question, as the pharmacy slipped me the generic last week. I've only taken one so far, but it seems to work okay.
And the ~$75 difference in copay price makes the generic all the more attractive!
posted
generics contain a bioequivalent active product ingredient. Dyes fillers and coatings can vary.
There can be differences of up to 40% (20% above to 20% below)of Active ingredient. Note that a lot of generic and brand drug manufacturing is outsourced. Obviously, if you have a choice, pick the generic that is manufactured in a well developed country vs. India, China etc. this also limits product tampering. Try to stick with the same generic brand-the response is more consistent this way.
Posts: 183 | From US | Registered: Feb 2004
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SForsgren
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7686
posted
I find this line hard to believe:
There can be differences of up to 40% (20% above to 20% below)of Active ingredient.
Are you saying if I get something that is 100mg, it can be 40% above or below that strength. I don't think this is an accurate statement.
-------------------- Be well, Scott Posts: 4617 | From San Jose, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
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dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
I emailed the pharmacy where I have been ordering my drugs for a years, and here is the pharmacists reply on this topic:
Hi XXXXX,
Regarding your question about generic vs. brand...
You are correct. The generic tablet is exactly the same active ingredient as the brand name tablet and by health canada's regulations they have to clinically have the same effect and bio-availability, same quality, strength, purity, and stability as brand-name drugs. A generic drug is a copy that is the same as a brand-name drug in dosage, safety, strength, how it is taken, quality, performance, and intended use.
Generic drugs are less expensive because generic manufacturers don't have the investment costs that the developer of a new drug has.
New drugs are developed under patent protection. The patent protects the investment -- including research, development, marketing, and promotion -- by giving the company the sole right to sell the drug while it is in effect. As patents near expiration, manufacturers can apply to Health Canada to sell generic versions. Because those manufacturers don't have the same development costs, they can sell their product at substantial discounts. Also, once generic drugs are approved, there is greater competition, which keeps the price down. Currently, almost half of all prescriptions are filled with generic drugs.
Both brand-name and generic drug facilities must meet the same standards of good manufacturing practices. Generic firms have facilities comparable to those of brand-name firms. In fact, brand-name firms are linked to an estimated 50% of generic drug production. They frequently make copies of their own or other brand-name drugs but sell them without the brand name.
In Canada and the US, trademark laws do not allow a generic drug to look exactly like the brand-name drug. However, a generic drug must duplicate the active ingredient. Colors, flavors, and certain other inactive ingredients may be different.
FYI: No one in Canada uses brand name diflucan anymore. Once a generic version is available, all pharmacies always will dispense generic unless the patient or MD specifically request otherwise. SO be assured that it is effective, otherwise I would have patients and MD requesting brand only (which has never happened at my pharmacy anyways). The choice is yours though and I hope I have answered your question adequately. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Kind regards,
-------------------------- So I decided to go with generic.
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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First of all. How has the Ketek been holding out?? Just wondering how it has been holding out?
Anyways, my Doc says Brand and generic are equall in ingredients by law. The difference is in "obsorption" which she says can make a diffrence. I was told this when I ased why brand Doxy worked so much better than generic.
Hope this helps,
CaliLymer
Posts: 215 | From CA, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Hi CaliLymer,
I guess I will find out, as I've now purchased the generic, whether it will be any different or now.
I am due to restart the Ketek at 1/2 dose tomorrow after a 7 week break. My previous fear, which had subsided quite a bit when I'd been on abx several months is back. It is a phobia about taking a 'new' antibiotic and getting some disastrous allergic reaction to it. Anyway, will have to try to put midn over matter.
I need to get back on it. I improved a lot on Ketek, but by mid-august was apparently having absorption problems, leading to gradual/mild return of some sx......it was then followed by really bad diarrhea within one hour or two of taking the ketek. So, I was to have a break and also take Diflucan, which I have done. The break has just gotten a bit longer than I had anticipated.
My stomach's not right still, but not too bad, so I just hope I can tolerate the Ketek and 'pick up where I left off' in terms of improvement. I feel I have taken a few steps backwards.
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
My 2 cents worth regarding the generic versus brand discussion. For anyone who is interested in generic drug development.
I happen to work in a generic pharmaceutical company and am project manager in development and registration of generic medicines (although i am not a pharmacist or a chemist, i just "manage the projects" but have picked up a lot of knowledge on regulatory guidelines and quality issues and generic versus brand discussions). It does help getting some abx cheap, it has its advantages....
Each drug has an API, the active pharmaceutical ingredient, for instance clarithromycine. After patent expiry (usually before patent expiry actually), this molecule (not the med but just the API) is developed by various generic API manufacturers. The molecule is common knowledge described in the literature and there are international quality standards / specifications for these molecules, like the USP united states pharmacopoeia and EP european pharmacopoeia being the 2 major ones. The molecule of both the brand and the generic have to comply with those specifications. However, the route of synthesis is almost always slightly different for each manufacturer, but the specification of the molecule is the same. I do not want to "scare" anyone, but by far most drugs contain API's produced in India and China. Even the innovators with the branded product have their plants set up in Asian countries. These factories have to be inspected by the FDA (US) or EDQM / EU national authorities (EU). Usually the EU and US authorities are even more critical when inspecting a plant in Asia than in the US. I have seen really crappy plants in EU which are approved, while most facilitities in Asia are much better.
That is the first part, the API. Then there is the second part, the dosage form, tablet manufacturing. A generic company has to proof that plasma concentrations of the molecule in question is equivalent to the plasma levels of the brand leader / reference product. There are upper an lower limits for this and statistical confidence intervals to which a study has to comply. so what the generic company does is give to ie 36 volunteers 1 tablet of clarithromycine and to 36 volunteers 1 tablet of klacid/biaxin and measure plasma levels a number of times during a number of hours. These profiles have to be equivalent within certain margins. Apart from that (in vivo study), an in vitro study has to be carried out, making dissolution profiles of the branded product versus the generic product usually in various media with different PH (simulating stomach environment)....
By the way, the second step, production of the dosage form ie tablets and packagin is also done more and more in india and in the future in china. top quality plants are fda and eu approved in india.
There are also some really crappy plants and meds in India but these will through official channels never reach the US or EU. The plants would never be approved during an inspection of fda or eu authorities and / or the product would never get registered (bio equivalence studies lacking etc.)
A generic manufacturer is free to use other excipients (all ingredient apart from the API, such as microcrystalline cellulose, magnesium stearate, polvidone, colourants, etc.)....
posted
By the way, in my message i was in no way promoting the (generic) pharmatical industry, but just sharing my experience working in that market. As a matter of fact, i am not fond of the whole money driven pharmaceutical industry at all, but unfortunately i have not won the lottery yet, and working in any other market wouldprobably be just the same anyway...
Posts: 52 | Registered: Nov 2003
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Sue vG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3143
posted
Thanks for the education, Panchito!
Posts: 1307 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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