Which is better, or is there a difference regarding the zithromax and its generic med? Jenin
Posted by micul (Member # 6314) on :
I don't use generic Zith or Biaxin because they don't do squat for me compared to the name brands, and the 600 mg Zith (no dyes either) is better than the 500 mg.
Posted by CraigC (Member # 13732) on :
How can that be, whenever the generic brand only differs in the company who manufactures the drug. The components of the actual drug itself, should be exactly the same.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
I would not have believed this either, but I have seen with my own eyes energetic testing of brand name Zith and generic Zith and they don't test the same way. The brand name tested well and the generic tested as being sensitive. It may be the pink dye that they are using, but I do believe that in some cases, the brand and generic do not work the same or at least can be sensitive to one and not the other due to some other component of the pill.
Posted by Walnut (Member # 6585) on :
The active ingredients in brand name and generic are the same. I would personally not spend any extra money on buying brand name drugs.
Brand name Zithromax is manufactured by pfizer. Pfizer's subsiduary Greenstone manufactures a azithromycin, the generic of zithromax.
So if you worry about differences between generic and brand name, ask your pharmacy for generic from Greenstone, and your azithromycin will be the same a zithromax.
Posted by micul (Member # 6314) on :
"The FDA does not require generic drugmakers seeking approval to do clinical trials of their drugs on hundreds or thousands of people as is required for brand drugs. Instead, the agency requires lab data and "bioequivalence" testing in about 24 to 36 healthy volunteers showing that the drug appears in the bloodstream in a similar manner to the brand, says Walsh."
"While generics are required to have the same active ingredients as the brand drugs, the FDA allows for some variability in the amount of the active drug. Usually that variability is no big deal, says Boesen. However, "there is a small number of medications that we do worry about switching back and forth," he says.
Doctors and pharmacists refer to these drugs as having a "narrow therapeutic index." Translation: "If you get too much you can get sick. If you get too little you don't get any benefit," says Boesen.
Heart specialist Dr. Peter Kowey, a professor of medicine and clinical pharmacology at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, says cardiologists are well aware that some patients don't do well when, for instance, they go from the blood-thinner Coumadin to the generic warfarin or from the arrhythmia drug Cordarone to the generic amiodarone. Likewise, though, patients may have trouble when they go from the generic to the brand drug, he says.
"But there has been precious little research done on this," says Kowey, who says he tried unsuccessfully to get government and pharmaceutical funding for a study that would compare brand and generic versions of amiodarone. "Nobody wanted to do the study."
Beware of big pharmaceutical companies paying off physicians to tell to consumers that their brand name drugs are better than generics. Big pharmaceutical companies have mark ups of thousands of procent above production costs on brand name drugs. Big pharmaceutical companies, such as pfizer and glaxosmithkline, hate competition from generic drugs, since competition lowers drug prices.
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine found that generics reduce the average price of a drug by 50 percent when a second generic enters the market, and fully 75 percent when the 6th generic is introduced. See RG Frank. "The Ongoing Regulation of Generic Drugs." New England Journal of Medicine, Novermber 15, 2007.
Many Lyme patients, including myself, who are no longer able to work, are struggling to pay for our medication. I know that I don't want to waste my money on brand name drugs, when cheaper and equally good generics are available.
Posted by pamoisondelune (Member # 11846) on :
I think i read somewhere that generics are allowed to vary 20% in either direction from the brand-name drug, ie, 20% more or less amount of active ingredient.
Sorry i'm not adding a reference.
Posted by jenin98 (Member # 12617) on :
I guess I will make a call in to my llmd's office and ask him. thanks everyone. Jenin
Posted by Clarissa (Member # 4715) on :
I was taking generic zithromax for a couple weeks, then read a few posts similar to this one, got anxious, and switched over to brand zithromax.
Personally, with the brand zithro I found the herxes to be stronger but smoother. Don't know if that makes ANY sense but I'm sticking with the brand and I'm not a generic snob because I find some generics are totally fine!
I just wanted to pack a big punch for my Bart. My LLMD said he has no research to prove one way or the other so I think it's totally a personal-experience decision to make.
