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I am sure this has been posted many times, but did a search and unable to find it. I would like to know what generic brands work the best and where to find them. Thanks and sorry for any redundancy. Laura
Hi–Teva and Watson are two excellent generic manufacturers of minocycline –you would have to specify these brands to your pharmacist as most of them prefer to use cheaper imports from other countries where manufacturing is just not as consistent –
Richie
That is a tough question to answer…some might say impossible. While folks might well have a “hunch” as to which brand might be the best, hunches, in my experience at least, don’t have a very good track record when it comes to accuracy. Simply put the task of assessing the quality of a particular brand of medication involves standards that none of us is in any way capable of meeting. This is not to say that you or I personally shouldn’t make an effort to decide whether a particular brand works better for us than another, but rather that it really doesn’t amount to much more than a semi-educated guess. Worse yet, just because one brand works better for me doesn’t mean it will work better for someone else.
The truth is that the average person is simply not capable of assessing the quality of a particular brand of drug. Which, of course, is why we spend billions of dollars a year to fund the FDA, an agency not all that famous for truly tackling the quality control problem in an effective manner. A few years ago I looked into the whole issue of quality control in drugs…not just generic drugs but ALL drugs…and I was horrified by what I found. Name brand drugs like Synthroid, for instance, had such a terrible reputation for failing to meet potency standards that the FDA at one point considered making the manufacturer begin the entire approval process again with manufacture suspended in the meantime. Other drugs I looked at failed to meet the straight face test as well.
Clearly, drug quality is tied to the same profit motivated system that is failing us in all other areas of medicine. This seems especially true when it comes to generics. With more and more insurance companies mandating the use of generic medications it doesn’t take a graduate degree in business to see that the same “There’s Gold In Them Thar Hills!” that drives corporate profits elswhere in medicine will soon see more and more generic companies vying for the business. This, of course, will lead to shaving away at the infamous Bottom Line by cutting quality whenever a company can get away with it.
A prescription for disaster, particularly if the FDA shrinks from its duty, or a lobbyist driven Congress chisels away at FDA funding to make it all but impossible to do its job.
All best,
WinstonHi–Agreed –its very subjective –however one can go to the FDA’s orange book and interpret their findings and somewhat figure out which companies mfg consistent quality —-you would be amazed at some of the equivalencies -and how they vary -THe drug industry is basically driven by the insurance companies -For years now –they specify generics if available —this has been going on for well over 10–15 years –In fact its quite the opposite –generic prices have come down dramatically —People can buy 60–90 days supply of hundreds and hundreds of generics for a ten dollar bill -if insured -thats cheap !! In fact all my generics cost an average of ten dollars for 90 day supplies
as to minocin -I protested and got approved the brand over 12 years ago –Still take it !! It costs me more than ten but still very reasonable compared to the regular retail cost of minocin -Still very much in total remission –but too many people relapse after going off the med -so I stay on it with no side effects at all —
richie@richie wrote:
Hi–Agreed –its very subjective –however one can go to the FDA’s orange book and interpret their findings and somewhat figure out which companies mfg consistent quality —-you would be amazed at some of the equivalencies -and how they vary -THe drug industry is basically driven by the insurance companies -For years now –they specify generics if available —this has been going on for well over 10–15 years –In fact its quite the opposite –generic prices have come down dramatically —People can buy 60–90 days supply of hundreds and hundreds of generics for a ten dollar bill -if insured -thats cheap !! In fact all my generics cost an average of ten dollars for 90 day supplies
as to minocin -I protested and got approved the brand over 12 years ago –Still take it !! It costs me more than ten but still very reasonable compared to the regular retail cost of minocin -Still very much in total remission –but too many people relapse after going off the med -so I stay on it with no side effects at all —
richieRichie,
The thing that worries me the most about generics is the ongoing trend towards lower and lower prices. Not being a big believer in either the Tooth Fairy, Santa, or the proverbial Free Lunch I fear that a potential source of “cost saving” will be a concommitent drop in quality. Now if the FDA did more than “pretend” to keep an eye on quality one might say my worries were ill founded. Alas due to factors I mentioned in my earlier post they seem either unwilling or unable to do this and therein lies the rub. And with current pressures to lower medical costs from both the Feds and the insurance folks this is only going to get worse…
All best,
WinstonWell I am going to stay out of the “black helicopter” discussion and I have no “hunch” what genreric would be best for the OP but I have used Ranbaxy (briefly) and Watson brand generics. In my case I found the Ranbaxy to be hard on my stomach and have used Watson all but two months over my five years on mino. My results have been very good. YMMV.
JeffN,
Not quite sure what you mean by “Black Helicopter discussion…” But if you are hinting that my worries over generics and the FDA are overblown you might want to do a little research on those topics. It might also be useful to consider that Dr. T and other well respected rheumatologists literally had to threaten Wyeth Pharmceutical with a class action lawsuit not long ago when the company announced its plans to discontinue Minocin in order protect market share for their far more expensive DMARDs. While the threatened lawsuit forced them to back down on this the problem was later dealt with creatively by the company who purchased the rights for Minocin from Wyeth by radically increasing the cost of the drug.
It would be nice indeed if those of us suffering from this terrible disease could copy the Ostrich’s habit of burying their head in the sand whenever confronted by unpleasant realities but I fear that this would be folly. There’s an old saying that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. I suspect all it will take for drug manufacturer’s to triumph in marketplace economics is for us to pretend that everything is coming up roses when in fact about all we ever get to smell is thorns…
As to your comment on “hunches” if you are indicating that about all we have to go on as a captive medical market is hunches you will get no arguement from me. That said, having written more that quarter a million words of medical advice on an Internet column I authored for some years I am proud to be able to say that I always strove to keep in mind the possible negative ramifications things I said online might have on the lives of others. I therefore attempted to limit my comments to things at least substantially authenticated by scienctific research.
Please don’t interpret any of this to be offered in anything other than a spirit of sincere concern. Lord knows those of us suffering from this miserable disease need to treat one another with a tone of friendliness and respect and I hope you will take what I’ve said as having been prompted by nothing other than that.
All my best,
WinstonWinston,
Interesting comment about DrTs and others lawsuit. When I began seeing him almost five years ago be was prescribing generic mino. At the time I asked about it and he told me that the generics had come so far I would have the same result as brand name. He did not reccommend any specific brand. With that said I have never been on brand name so I don’t know for sure. But as I stated above Watson has worked well for me.
Your worries about generics are your worries and I have mine. I would not presume to comment on your worries. I stay out of conspiracy theory/black helicopter discussions because I find that usually the people engaging in these type of discussions have already made up their minds about whatever the topic and are seldom swayed. They tend to go on and on and I am just not all that interested in the back and forth. I’m sure there is merit to many but if I want to read one about a particular topic I can do a search as these types of discussions are everywhere on the net. Pick a topic and there is a discussion out there. I just choose not to take part generally. I have accessed these for research on occasion but don’t comment usually.
I would submit that anyone that has found this board has already shown they are not burying their head in the sand. Takes a little work to find it and if they have they are looking for answers as the OP is. If you are suggesting I am burying my head in the sand you would be sorely mistaken. You don’t know me and where my SD journey began or where it has taken me. Unless you know someone it would be best to stay away from generalities. I have done my research and made my decisions, so far I am happy with them and I don’t feel the need to defend those decisions. They are mine to make.
By hunches I was referring to your mention earlier about “hunches” not being accurate. In my post I offered no hunch, that is what I stated, about what might be the best generic for the OP. I simply commented that Watson had worked well for me and that the other brand had been hard on my stomach. The bottom line is people come to these forums looking some answers, while I would agree that often there are no hard and fast answers people are still seeking a bit of info about what might or might not have worked for others. I would probably agree there is no difinitive answer as to who manufactures the best generic. In practice the generic that works for the person taking it is the best. In the end the people that visit here and decide to try AP have to take the leap of faith and try something. That is a big step with so many pundits telling us AP can’t work so I try to be supportive and usually frame my responses based on my particular experience.
Jeff,
It would appear that we pretty much agree. Just noticed the lighthouse window sign you have as an avatar and got a chuckle out of the misspelling. My best ever Federal Property sign showed up 40 years ago when I was living in California. I was writing an article about a dam being built north of San Francisco and while visiting the dam site I noted an expensive brass plague nailed to a large tree immediately adjacent to the engineering office. I took a closer look at the plague to see what it was marking and burst into laughter when I saw it said, “Oak Tree.” It seems that the engineers had driven a spike into the tree to mark an elevation benchmark and the Corp of Engineers big wigs were afraid the field crew wouldn’t know what an oak tree looked like. 😆
Better yet, as I left the job site later that day I spotted the chief engineer getting out of his car and locking the gate to the property behind him. Problem was the fence around the property had long ago been torn down and all one had to do to circumvent the locked gate was turn a bit to the left or right and drive around it. Oh well, I thought to myself, Let’s just hope the robbers are too stupid to notice…
All best,
Winston@fastspinW wrote:
Jeff,
It would appear that we pretty much agree.
Perhaps not so much but it is all good anyway. Lots of different opinions out there. 🙂
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