Re: Glucophage -- is there really a generic
From: Lis (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue, 6 Nov 2001 06:24:54 -0600 (CST)
Actually, the price sounds about right.
I am in London, I was prescribed Metformin by my Gynaecologist, who I
was seeing as a Private rather than National Health Service patient, so
the prescription was a private one. I went straight to the pharmacy in
the hospital, where they sold me 56 tablets (500mg each) for roughly
£5.50 (I don't remember the exact price). So that's roughly 10 pence
per tablet, which would be 14 cents.
Since then, my GP has done NHS prescriptions for me, which have a fixed
price of £6.10 ($8.50), regardless of the number of tablets - he usually
prescribes 3 months worth at a time. And prescriptions are free for
anyone on low-income support.
AT last, something good to say about the NHS! Appaling waiting times for
specialist care, but the prescriptions are cheap!
I still wouldn't be keen on buying over the Web - you just don't know
about the quality.
At Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Katie wrote:
>
>Thanks guys.
>I didn't plan to buy anything through the website -- it looks like it's
>based in the British Channel Islands. It just confused me because I
>know my pharmacist told me there's no generic yet. She said it was
>supposed to be available this fall and has been put off until Feb. 2002.
>I thought maybe we had missed something. &^%*% drug companies!! I have
>insurance, but I still resent the fact that they hang on to patents for
>so long to make an extra few million bucks. I did some more research
>and found that the generic is available in dozens of countries around
>the world.
>Oh well. Wait and see, I guess....
>
>At Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Sonnet wrote:
>>
>>What Renee said before is correct (another wonderfully smart person!),
>>and if anyone is selling Metformin generic through websites then they
>>are doing something illegal. That and 10 cents a pill? I wouldn't trust
>>that site to sell me anything. Please be careful about your health and
>>stay away from them!
>>
>>I do believe though, that the generic version will be coming out in some
>>years, and THEN our lives will be easier and it will be cheaper. It's a
>>patent thing.
>>
>>At Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Katie wrote:
>>>
>>>Thanks Dona. My original question was probably convoluted.
>>>I completely understand the difference between the names. But my
>>>question is, is the generic (hence cheaper) form of the drug Glucophage
>>>available for sale in the US? I've seen several websites advertising
>>>"Metformin" for about 10cents/pill as opposed to Glucophage, which costs
>>>nearly $1/pill.
>>>I'm curious if anyone here takes a generic form or knows when it might
>>>be available for sale in the US. Has anyone purchased the generic from
>>>any of these websites?
>>>
>>>Thanks
>>>
>>>At Sun, 4 Nov 2001, Dona wrote:
>>>>
>>>>one is the Brand name (Glucophage).The other is the medication name.make
>>>>sense?they are the same thing.and your Pharmacy is correct.Metfromin is
>>>>the drug name ...Glucophage is what Bristol Meyers Squibb has named
>>>>it.You can look the info up at there website.
>>>>Dona
>>
>>--
>>Sonnet Fitzgerald, PCOS Association, Online Community Liaison. Email: sonnet@pcosupport.org
>>
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