Generic Medications

[SHEMYAKID]

Between the wife and me, we take quite a few generic medications, prescription drugs, for blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. In all cases except for two, the medications are generic and don't cost all that much through our HMO. However, two of my critical medications have no current generic equivalent. They are Cozaar and Glyset. I take four Cozaar tablets per day, two in the morning and two at night. I take them to help control the protein that is dumped into my bladder by my kidneys; a problem I have being a Type 2 diabetic. A three month supply costs in excess of $200.00. I take the Glyset, a pill with each meal, to help control my blood sugar. It also has a high cost. What really gripes me is that I have read that there are approximately 1000 generic equvalent drugs that have not gone on the market because our government has not approved them yet for generic manufacture. In the meantime it is costing me a small fortune of my fixed income. There is no way out of this for me! SHEMYAKID

[Hercalees!Hercalees!]

I sympathize with your situation. Prescription meds are expensive and can be difficult to afford for those on a fixed income or without a prescription benefit plan associated with health insurance.

The main reason that many prescription drugs do not have generic equivalent is not that the FDA won't approve them, it's because the patent owned by the company that manufactures the branded version has not expired yet. When a new medication receives FDA approval, it is granted market exclusivity for a period of time (usually 10-12 years after the initial date of file with the FDA). It is granted this exclusivity so that the company can recoup the investment it took to bring that product to market. I believe the last average I read was that it costs about 800 million in the US to bring a new drug to market from inception to approval. Also remember the vast majority of drugs submitted into initial FDA scrutiny never make it past the intitial stages. As a result, drug companies make significant investments that never pay off. If Merk couldn't have made money off their previous medications, they could have never developed the Cozaar you rely on now. You might think that the drug companies make too much money already and that would have been the case up until a few years ago. The pharmaceutical industry is not the Wall Street darling it used to be. Every company is laying off employees and only the very small ones are still churning out increased profits. As the US government becomes the biggest payer for meds in the country with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit, things are going to get much worse for the drug companies very soon as well.

So why are prescription meds still so much more expensive in the US than other countries? Well simply put, we are the idiots that are financing the low cost of medications in the rest of the world. Our higher prices pay for their discounts. That is how virtually every pharmaceutical company that has US operations does business. Until that changes, the US will continue to pay a significant premium over other countries for prescription meds.

[PythonPower]

Originally Posted by SHEMYAKID

Between the wife and me, we take quite a few generic medications, prescription drugs, for blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. In all cases except for two, the medications are generic and don't cost all that much through our HMO. However, two of my critical medications have no current generic equivalent. They are Cozaar and Glyset. I take four Cozaar tablets per day, two in the morning and two at night. I take them to help control the protein that is dumped into my bladder by my kidneys; a problem I have being a Type 2 diabetic. A three month supply costs in excess of $200.00. I take the Glyset, a pill with each meal, to help control my blood sugar. It also has a high cost. What really gripes me is that I have read that there are approximately 1000 generic equvalent drugs that have not gone on the market because our government has not approved them yet for generic manufacture. In the meantime it is costing me a small fortune of my fixed income. There is no way out of this for me! SHEMYAKID

just out of curiosity, have you tried chromium picolinate?

[SHEMYAKID]

Yes, I was aware that there was more to it than the FDA not approving generic medications, but it is still a bad situation when there is a vital medication required for continued health and the cost is almost prohibitive! Thanks for your comments.

I have not tried the engredient the other individual mentioned. I don't take anything unless my doctors approve it due to being a type 2 diabetic and having kidneys that are susceptible to problems of medications/proteins, etc. Thanks for your suggestion. I will run it past my doctor. SK

[gatorhoss]

There is no clinical evidence of any benefit from taking chromium.