Pharmacy Exchange

Xenji

Went into my usual pharmacy today to fill a prescription, had taken the medication before, but this time pharmacist said he had a generic version at half the price. I asked him was it the same and he said it was, but from talking to other people including my GP it is commonly known to have side effects unlike the brand version.

Anyway would it be possible to go back to the pharmacy and get them to exchange the generic medication for the branded medication that was on the prescription, the tablets are unopened and in a blister pack.

L1011

You can try but its unlikely, even unopened they cannot be certain it has not been tampered with and hence cannot resell it; they may take it back regardless and write off the cost though.

There are very, very, very few drugs where the generic has different effects than the branded drug and its very unlikely a pharmacist would ever offer to exchange those without giving you massive warnings. In more cases, people have fallen for the branded manufacturers marketing...

dudara

Let's refrain from commenting on side effects. We cannot offer medical advice here.

dudara

davo10

Op, when a drug comes off patent, it's chemical and pharmacological properties become available to manufacturers of generic medications. It cannot be sold as a generic of the previously patented medication if it differs greatly, it will not pass FDA regulations (all drugs need to be sold in the US market to be commercially viable). Pharmacists are now required to offer a generic alternative if there is one available and to be honest, pharmacists tend to know a lot more about the drugs being dispensed than GPs, pharmacists often contact GPs to check if dosages on prescriptions are correct and they are updated daily on new data regarding side effects/drug interactions. You should discuss this with the pharmacist, they are better placed to advise you, having said that, if you want the patented drug and are happy to pay more, by all means do so.

Xenji

I have no issues with generics, I have taken them before of other medications and understand what they are, just with this it is a bit specific issue that my GP confirmed could be a migraine trigger, something I was not willing to risk as a sufferer.

Anyway back on track, I got it exchanged and payed the extra for the brand I was on before, the pharmacist said under normal circumstances he would not do it, but as he knew me he would make the exemption once.

Thanks for the help in the above posts.