New Generics Now Available!

By: Lisa Conrad, R.Ph, Pharmacy Director

Psychiatric illness can be expensive to treat.  Without insurance, patients can spend thousands of dollars per month on prescriptions alone.  Both the psychiatric health care industry and patients alike have been awaiting the arrival of generic medications with the excitement of a 6 year old at Christmas.  In recent months, Lexapro®, Zyprexa®, Geodon®, Seroquel® and Ritalin LA® have become manufactured as generic.  This is very exciting as these medications treat depression, psychosis and ADHD and have had retail sales of BILLIONS per year.

 Generic prices will vary depending upon contract agreements, insurance coverage, time on the market, number of manufacturers, etc.  On the average, generics cost 80 to 85 percent less than the brand name product- and that's great news for patients!

Keep in mind that not all strengths and dosage forms may be available as generic.  For instance, Seroquel(R) is now in generic, but its sustained release counterpart Seroquel XR(R) is not.  Check with your doctor or pharmacist to see if generics can help you stay healthy and save money. 

Good references for information on medication:

http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/UnderstandingGenericDrugs/ucm167991.htm?utm_campaign=Google2&utm_source=fdaSearch&utm_medium=website&utm_term=generic&utm_content=4 Accessed 4/20/12

http://www.medcohealth.com/art/corporate/anticipatedfirsttime_generics.pdf Accessed 4/20/12