$4 lists versus drug companies, FIGHT!!

[lacey]

I have spoken before here, albeit a long time ago, about how I don't like the practices of drug companies, and find them generally no better than insurance companies. Today, I'm going to discuss a realization I just had, and one thing that I do like about Wal-Mart

Comments

[synecdochic]

For the most part, I'm all full of "word" for this post, but I do feel the need to point out: Occasionally there can be a really good reason to use the CR version of a drug, a medically necessary reason I mean, that the generic/non-CR version won't meet. In my case, for instance, thanks to my Funky Genetic Disorder™, I metabolize many drugs way faster than I should, and by using the CR version of a drug I can keep from having to use a much higher dose and incurring nasty side effects.

Not that I don't think you know this, just pointing it out. :)

[lacey]

Oh yes, that's very true. Also true is that there are some folks who are better off not using generics, or at least not those from certain companies: we've seen before where people literally cannot have generics from certain companies, Teva, for instance, who I guess use certain binders in some medications that the patient is allergic to. In cases like that, and in cases you cite, absolutely better to steer clear of generics and go for brand. Generally, though, generics are well tolerated. I do feel bad for the folks who take the generic Toprol... the generic changed manufacturers recently, and they changed it to a huge pill, so huge that some people are having trouble taking it. Luckily, most of them are scored and can be split easily. (Kids at home: ask your pharmacist before splitting pills, just in case!)

[teacuptempest]

I considered doing pharmacy just for the pens. I always steal the pens from drs...prozac, lexapro, welbutrin, viagra hahahah. My favourite pen ever was a LACTULOSE pen lmao, everyones like...what's that? And I say, a sugar based laxative that is so hardcore that if you don't right when you need to, you can rupture your colon! Yaaaaaaay. Hahahha

[lacey]

I totally love free stuff like that! Though I must say, spending a hundred thousand dollars for the degree just to get a few pens and clocks seems a slightly backwards way of doing business :P

[daktaklakpak]

A nation of drug-addled hypochondriacs? All I can say is "Gimme my Thorazine!"...

Every drug companies dream is for a diseases that can't be cured, but with treatable symptoms. Guaranteed customer for life. It's worth remembering that these companies don't care one whit about you, only what you have in your pocket that they can take away.

[lacey]

Oh yeah. Ever hear of Neurontin/Gabapentin? They prescribe that drug for everything under the sun. A new formulation of it, Pregabalin, also known as Lyrica, is available, and was greenlighted for Fibromyalgia usage.

I actually have a prescription for it, have the pills in my room from the time or two I remembered to have it filled.

Lifelong customers indeed.

[nurani]

Hi, I'm a friend of Ash, I stopped by and thought I'd read

[lacey]

Hi! Nice to have you around, Ash is good people :)

When I was seeing my GP a few times a week a few months ago to try and get myself sorted out, there was a drug rep in the waiting room, and just her being there made me so uncomfortable

Ooh, it would have made me that way too. Somehow, I've never run into that.

So, my theory is= one drug rep peddling one drug so a doctor uses it over another= bad. Drug reps being there to give out balanced information on each drug so the doctor gets to pick and choose, saving the patient money=potentially good.

I would probably agree with that. I know they have to exist, drug reps will never not exist, I believe, they're too integral a part of the system, but if it wasn't only one drug in a specific class they were pushing, but a few that you could compare, might not be as bad as that Lexapro doc. *shudder*

[freedom123]

Evergreening makes me angry too. Specifically with the Nexium/Prilosec thing, and also with Pristiq/effexor. My doc says that Pristiq is so much better, blah blah blah. Whatever, I am not paying $49 a month for something that is basically Effexor. I also heard that Effexor XR is probably going to be generic soon (crosses fingers), so that is another reason for them to make a new drug.

Also, Walgreens copays for drugs just keep getting higher and higher. We work at a pharmacy damn it. Cut us some slack over here.

[lacey]

I dispense so much Nexium, omg. It's right in front of the main filling station, right at my eye level, so I look at it a lot when I get to fill, and I think of it a lot as a result.

And, omg, Pristiq. What a load of steaming bullshit. We don't dispense that all that much now, but when it first came out, we sure did. Also! Zyrtec/Ceterizine and Xyzal/Levocetirizine. It's the same damn thing! I was trying to force it through some woman's insurance, and I told her "you know this is the same thing as Zyrtec, right? Which is over the counter, has a generic and everything?" She said "...oh. Zyrtec didn't work for me." Yeah, that went well. I don't think they ever did cover it

[freedom123]

When I saw those Treximet commercials, I thought exactly the same thing. Why would you pay more for something that just has some aleve in it? Drug companies know exactly how to make all the people who don't know any better get sucked right in to their "new" drugs.

[lacey]

We're selling a lot of the stuff. I just knew the boxes would sit on the shelf because surely, the insurance companies wouldn't pay for that. But they have been. Paying for frivolous things like that are how co-pays for everything get driven up, in my opinion.