Generic drugs are copies of drugs invented by others but which are out of patent so can be made and sold cheaply. A perfectly legitimate business ----except when the drugs do not work...
A long article of how an Indian drug company was fined $500m for selling drugs to US citizens - the drugs did not work. Pity about the others to whom they sold AIDS drugs...
An extract from a long and fascinating article
"Ranbaxy executives didn't care, says Kathy Spreen, and made little effort to conceal it. In a conference call with a dozen company executives, one brushed aside her fears about the quality of the AIDS medicine Ranbaxy was supplying for Africa. "Who cares?" he said, according to Spreen. "It's just blacks dying.""
tinyurl.com/ajnxjcc
Last edited by: madf on Thu 16 May 13 at 18:19
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I have no idea how it works, but I suspect in the UK in order to get the manufacturing licence you need to proof the drug works.
A tip is always check the PL code when buying generic medicines, you often have find two packets of medicines, one is more expensive with more expensive packaging but you will find by the PL number that the tablets are identical.
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Well of course they work, if they are made of the real stuff. One can only favour them in principle, since the pharmaceutical industry is so powerful, greedy and ruthless.
In principle... but there are obvious pitfalls, not easy to avoid under all circumstances. We don't all have access to pharmaceutical and biological laboratories, along with the people to operate them properly.
Thank God for the NHS, and hands off it Cameron.
On a different but related note, I saw last night on the box that a pacemaker costs 70-100,000 bucks in California depending on where you live, although it's only four thousand or so in Oklahoma. Mine didn't cost a penny, and I'd be dead without it.
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>>a pacemaker costs ...
Serious question AC, how do you or "they" know when the battery is about to or has run out or is that er, um, obvious ?
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I'm glad my ticker is controlled by Amiodarone & not a pacemaker!
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Mine is controlled by exchange rates.
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>> I'm glad my ticker is controlled by Amiodarone
Horrid stuff: small risk it can cause thyroid or liver problems, or lung fibrosis.
Can also cause tiny crystals of the drug to be deposited in the eyes which can cause glare when driving at night.
Does work though for stopping irregular heartbeats, and for many is more agreeable than pacemakers and betablockers.
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>> >> I'm glad my ticker is controlled by Amiodarone
>>
>> Horrid stuff: small risk it can cause thyroid or liver problems, or lung fibrosis.
>>
>> Can also cause tiny crystals of the drug to be deposited in the eyes which
>> can cause glare when driving at night.
>>
>> Does work though for stopping irregular heartbeats, and for many is more agreeable than pacemakers
>> and betablockers.
>>
Yup, I do know it has its drawbacks. I have regular blood-tests and have had for the dozen or so years I have been on it. It did slow my pulse rate quite a bit and the heart consultant in
Hospital CDS in Marbella reduced the 200 mg. dose to just taking it five days a week,
Tried digoxin - didn't work. The other well known side effect of skin sensitivity to sunlight UV rays was a bit of a pain in Spain but not too bad here in the UK!
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Digoxin has fallen out of favour for the vast majority of patients: one of the first drugs developed for humans by William Withering (IIRC) 200 odd years ago if my pharmacology lectures haven't completely left my head.
Apparently people with 'dropsy' (heart failure where the heart can't pump enough blood to supply all the organs) used to take foxglove (digitalis sp.) potion to help - turns out it does have a beneficial effect on symptoms but can be toxic and doesn't improve survival.
When I was a young 'un in the same lectures we were also told never to use betablockers on patients with heart failure as they slowed the heart down and weakened its pumping effect.
20 years later what drugs do you think are now being shown to improve symptoms and extend survival in ther same patients? That's right: betablockers!
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>>Serious question AC, how do you or "they" know when the battery is about to or has run out or is that er, um, obvious ?
Pacemaker 'owner' will be reviewed by a pacemaker team every 6-12 months and the device can be interrogated externally to determine if the battery is still good and whether it is working as expected.
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>>Pacemaker 'owner' will be reviewed by a pacemaker team every 6-12 months and the device can be interrogated externally to determine if the battery is still good and whether it is working as expected.<<
Just as well it is not being certified by Boeing. They would at this very moment be retrofitting steel boxes for the batteries, vented (where :)) to the outside world.
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>>
>> Serious question AC, how do you or "they" know when the battery is about to
>> or has run out or is that er, um, obvious ?
>>
They could fit a rechargeable battery with a miniature charger inserted into an external body organ that needs to be pumped vigorously at regular intervals to charge the battery...if you get my drift.
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>> They could fit a rechargeable battery with a miniature charger inserted into an external body organ that needs to be pumped vigorously at regular intervals to charge the battery...if you get my drift
BUPA patients are also provided with a nurse to 'recharge' the batteries.
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>> >> They could fit a rechargeable battery with a miniature charger inserted into an external
>> body organ that needs to be pumped vigorously at regular intervals to charge the battery...if
>> you get my drift
>>
>> BUPA patients are also provided with a nurse to 'recharge' the batteries.
Must be true, heard a similar thing in the pub the other day.
Bloke had a "gentleman's operation".
A couple of days after the op he asked a passing nurse when he would be able to have sex.
"Are you NHS or private?"
"NHS".
"You'll have to wait until you get home then".
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>> Serious question AC, how do you or "they" know when the battery is about to or has run out or is that er, um, obvious ?
Had its third or fourth annual check a few days ago. I call it the MoT, and go to St Mary's, Praed St., where it was put in. I feel the original garage must know best.
They put a heavy mouse thing over the device - the device is French-made I think but I'm not sure - and it can read how much juice is left (as well as spooling out a record of every time it's had to intervene since last time, amazingly since the device itself is the size of a 50p coin).
When the thing was installed the battery was alleged to be good for seven years. It still is more or less, allegedly. Naturally I don't look forward to its replacement palaver. But I may be dead by then although the techies were too polite to agree when I said so. They aren't the same people who were there when it was put in. There was this cool fat blonde Polish woman I quite liked.
Perhaps it's time to start going local for the MoT. But old habits die hard.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Thu 16 May 13 at 21:08
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Praed St. Difficult to park round there. Legally anyway.
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>> Praed St. Difficult to park round there.
I usually park five minutes' walk away in Bayswater. But there was an embarrassing (and annoying) glitch with my card. Fortunately I was early and had some cash, and there were a lot of places in the garage under the Hilton about the same distance in the other direction, in Edgeware Road.
When I went for the car I realised I didn't know how to get it back, so I asked the hotel doorman. He directed me to the winsome Russian babes behind the reception desk, who took the money and sorted me out. Only a fiver too because the timing was so good, just under an hour.
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They could charge the battery electromagnetically, like an electric toothbrush. No need to fiddle about with a lid and a little screw that you lose on the floor.
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My mother had a pacemaker kept her a live for a lot of years.Didn't stop her having a drink with me and she liked a alcohol drink.Good memories,she was a caracter and all the stories she told me about the war and before the war when she was employed by a elite family as a housemaid.
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>> On a different but related note, I saw last night on the box that a pacemaker costs 70-100,000 bucks in California........ Mine didn't cost a penny, and I'd be dead without it.
>>
When you have a minute, perhaps you would let me know where the NHS is free.
I had the distinct impression that I had been paying for it since 1948.
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>> perhaps you would let me know where the NHS is free.
>> I had the distinct impression that I had been paying for it since 1948.
It's high time you got a serious life-threatening condition then Duncan. A bit of a clawback sort of thing, knowImean? A chap doesn't want to be paying taxes for nothing.
You need to adopt a few bad habits before it's too late. I'd be more than happy to recommend some.
:o}
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>> perhaps you would let me know where the NHS is free.
If you break your leg, then its not.
If you get cancer or some other long term issue, then its as close to free as anything you'll ever get.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 16 May 13 at 21:23
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Free it ain't.
Competitive with other Western economies?
You betcha.
Could it be run better?
Good Lord yes.
data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.PCAP
Last edited by: Lygonos on Thu 16 May 13 at 21:49
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Of course they can be trusted, they're just a chemical formula. It's not like the foreman puts cheap hydrogen atoms or some dodgy grade B carbon into it.
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Most nations require generic drug manufacturers to prove their formulation exhibits bioequivalence to the innovator product. I'm happy to believe that the UK is such a nation.
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>> Most nations require generic drug manufacturers to prove their formulation exhibits bioequivalence to the innovator
>> product. I'm happy to believe that the UK is such a nation.
>>
Generic medications are generally safe and effective, because the Food and Drug Administration mandates tests to show that they are equivalent to the name-brand originals. But in 2011, the Food and Drug Administration determined that a major laboratory had committed such “egregious” research violations that years’ worth of its tests — many comparing generics to name-brand drugs — were potentially worthless. The FDA has required drug manufacturers to redo many of the tests from that lab, owned by the now-defunct Cetero Research. But a ProPublica investigation shows that the agency took little action to prevent consumers from taking medicines the FDA no longer knew for sure were safe or effective.
tinyurl.com/bnoxhe6
Last edited by: madf on Fri 17 May 13 at 13:12
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I think you'll find there's a bigger issue with fake drugs masquerading as the original product than masquerading as a generic version.
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>> there's a bigger issue with fake drugs masquerading as the original product than masquerading as a generic version.
Yes, stands to reason because a big mainstream name commands a higher price.
But (I know I have gone on a bit about this) a much more serious problem is the sale of genuine but often old and faded antibiotics in third world street markets, as many or as few capsules as the purchaser wants. The result, with people self-medicating until the symptoms clear up, which they often seem to do within a day or two, but not taking the full course that a doctor would have prescribed, is that antibiotic-resistant strains of deadly or troublesome bacteria are being developed.
This widespread phenomenon, far more harmful and potentially deadly than any illegal drug I can think of, should be illegal everywhere.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Fri 17 May 13 at 14:13
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The issue highlighted by the OP is fraud/adulteration.
My own prescription meds tend to be from a different supplier with each repeat. Packaging and blister pack design change, sometimes in calendar packs (like 'the pill')and sometimes not.
All seem equally effective.
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>> Packaging and blister pack design change, sometimes in calendar packs (like 'the pill')and sometimes not.
Mine are the same. Currently learning the days of the week in Italian.....or I think I am.
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I've looked for these 'PL' numbers Rattle mentioned. Haven't found any so far.
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Try looking for a MA number.
"Before a medicine can be sold in the UK, a number of licences are essential.
The product itself must have a licence called a 'marketing authorisation' (formerly called a ‘product licence’). "
www.mhra.gov.uk/Howweregulate/Medicines/Licensingofmedicines/
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>> I've looked for these 'PL' numbers Rattle mentioned.
Rattle meant Product Licence Number.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Mon 20 May 13 at 18:53
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Generic drugs.. can they be trusted? - RattleandSmoke
