posted
That's so strange. I just ordered from this reputable Canadian pharmacy and it is so much more expensive (generic from India).
What gives? Really upsetting. I am a little wary of ordering from any pharmacies outside the U.S. but apparently mine is highly recommended as being safe.
Anyone know why the two prices are so drastically different?
Posts: 770 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
bump.
Posts: 770 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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MariaA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9128
posted
I think the stuff went from brand to generic pretty recently and I can see why prices would still be all over the map. Hopefully whatever I"m buying is not counterfeit or anything= generally I think pharmacychecker.com is a good site that deals with reputable pharmacies.
what's even stranger is that if you go to pharmacychecker right now, you get one set of prices if you search for 'alinia' (which then gives you the brand and generic options after you click on the results) and another set if you search for the generic name. The search results for the 'brand' Alinia were where I found the cheap price. The search results for nitazoxanide brought up the more expensive prices.
I'm guessing this is all just growing pains as the places adjust to the new generics??? Most drugs aren't quite that oddly priced there.
-------------------- Symptom Free!!! Thank you all!!!!
posted
The generic of Alinia is Nitazoxanide; available for USA patients only through overseas pharmacies because of USA patent protection restrictions.
One of my LLMDs knows a Candian source where it is imported from a reliable India resource. He said his staff has thoroughly checked it out and it is credible and saves his patients lots of money. I think he said the cost was less than $300 for 60 tablets.
A lot of Alinia is being prescribed for lyme patients, so we need to ensure that patients know there is a reliable cheaper generic purchasing option through Canadian pharmacy resources.
[ 04-24-2009, 03:32 PM: Message edited by: jam338 ]
Posts: 495 | From SF Bay area, CA | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
I called 'the other" Canadian pharmacy that I ordered my Alinia from at nearly $700 for 60 tabs 500mg and they won't match the other price.
Really upsetting that I wasted all of that money. Thanks for that link, I will use them next time.
Chris
Posts: 770 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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MariaA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9128
posted
I just got off the phone with the place I listed in the first link.
They're sending it from a pharmacy in India (my LLMD had to fax them a prescription). It's basically $75 for 60 tablets, and it's a generic that in India they call Nizonide. It'll take up to a month to get here. Hopefully this is all legitimate.
I think that the only reason LLMD"s don't know about the overseas generics for this one is that they're really new, and most doctors don't know about how reputable or not reputable online overseas drug shopping is.
My LLMD knew that the stuff was cheap in India just because he'd been there, and he'd actually tried to get a pharmacy there to understand that they should do mail-order to the US, but said that he didn't get anywhere with them.
Hopefully this pharmacychecker.com resource is always a good one.
-------------------- Symptom Free!!! Thank you all!!!!
posted
Really strange. Mine comes from India also from the other canadian pharmacy but it's $700. They ripped me off!
Posts: 770 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
I'd seen someone on the Yahoo California Lyme group talking about this BEFORE I had to get alinia.
I tried in vain to find those postings when it was prescribed to me.
When I looked at other pharmacies....I just didn't know who was legit and who wasn't.
Tough position for us to be in.
Posts: 322 | From Venice, CA | Registered: Sep 2008
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MariaA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9128
posted
I received the Alinia and it's a generic called Nizonide, which is what I was taking before. The first batch of it that I took I had gotten from a doctor friend who traveled to India as a volunteer healthcare provider, and got it at a local pharmacy. He said that it costs something like $12/60 tablets there, and tried really hard to get that pharmacy to consider doing overseas orders, which they didn't want to mess with.
Anyway, the cost of the stuff I just got was $140/month approximately, if you're on my high dosage of 1000 mg twice a day- some people are on half that. The boxes of 60 500 mg tablets are $73 each box. I also take a few days break every few weeks so 120 tablets/$140 will last me longer than a month.
I'm pretty sure it was the same stuff I took last time, and it turned me urine bright yellow for a day or two before the side effect faded, which I think is just how my body processes this stuff for some reason. So I'm pretty sure it's legit. If I start feeling like crap in a couple of weeks I"ll be even more convinced that it's 'the real thing'.
-------------------- Symptom Free!!! Thank you all!!!!
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