Posted by CamW on March 8, 2013, at 11:15:35
In reply to Camber Escitalopram, posted by Baseball85 on March 8, 2013, at 9:48:29
BB:
There "should" be no difference between generics, as a molecule is a molecule, the body cannot tell who makes it. The difference comes in what the company uses for binders & fillers. This is not a problem for most people unless they have allergies to the fillers & binders. Generic companies use whatever is the cheapest, usually.In Canada, the government requires that testing be done on every batch of a medication made. By law, the generic drugs must match (with a 5% leeway) the brand name in dissolution, blood level, metabolism, excretion, etc. I am sure that the US has similar laws.
In short, there should be no problem switching from one generic to another (or from brand to generic).
That said, occasionally people will say that a certain generic doesn't work as well as the brand or even other generic. When many people say this about a particular medication you gotta believe them. For example when Effexor (venlafaxine) first went generic people claimed a certain brand didn't work as well as the brand. People were relapsing. This is no longer the case, so I think that the manufacturer quietly changed something; probably the filler(no announcement was ever made).
Other generics which still, in my opinion, do not work as well as brand are certain generic birth control pills (causing breakthrough bleeding), and 2 generic brands of salbutamol (Ventolin) inhalers.
Most times people claim differences between brand & generic drugs the differences are psychological in nature; but not always.
As for generic escitalopram, we do not have a generic version in Canada, yet. Ask your pharmacist if he/she has heard anyone complain of efficacy differences between the brands. Pharmacists are told by corporate which brands to stock, but most pharmacists will tell you whether they have heard of differences; if they don't you are liable to here about it from other sources. This would make the pharmacist who lied look bad, so lying ain't worth it.
I hope that this is of some help - Cam
poster:CamW
thread:1039857
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130308/msgs/1039859.html