Zoloft Generic Price vs. Non Generic Price

stargazergal · ‎02-18-2016

Generic Zoloft one month prescription $ 2.00

Non Generic Price $ 200.00

Say what???

Tinkrbl44 · ‎08-23-2010

Generic drugs have always been cheaper .... make sure your pharmacy knows you always want generic whenever possible.

(Yeah, it's a dramatic difference, but based on my own experience with meds, I'm not surprised.)

Tantallum · ‎02-16-2011

Sometimes the pills are even exactly the same. Same pills produced on the same equipment by the same company in the same factory. but they would still sell the brand name for so much more.

I'm a pharmacist and I used to work in retail while in school. We had a couple of people that would insist on brand name because they thought it worked better. Even when I showed them the pills--exact same, same imprint, same company stamped on the bottle--they insisted paying the jacked up price because the generic 'doesn't work as well'. Just goes to show that the placebo effect is amazing number one, and number two that is the reason the brand can get away with charging that much. there will always be some people who think that it is worth it.

(As an aside, there are a few drugs that come in sustained/extended release dosage formulation where the brand and generic can be different. Not because the actual drug is different, but because the delayed release tablet composition isn't the same)

NickNack · ‎03-10-2010

I used to have daily migraines and went to a neurologist. She would only prescribe brand name drugs. No amount of explaining that you couldn't afford them would make her change her mind. I only went to her one time and then went to my regular doctor and asked her to prescribe the same drug in a generic.

I had a friend who went to her after I did and had the same experience. She never was able to get the drug that she had prescribed for her. I didn't understand her thinking at all.

The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau

stargazergal · ‎02-18-2016

I had specifically asked for brand non generic, but when they quoted me the two different prices..... I went generic...... My thinking was non generic would be better working.

We shall see. It has also been my experience that pharmacys automatically use

generic unless you specify otherwise.

@Tantallum wrote:
Sometimes the pills are even exactly the same. Same pills produced on the same equipment by the same company in the same factory. but they would still sell the brand name for so much more.

I'm a pharmacist and I used to work in retail while in school. We had a couple of people that would insist on brand name because they thought it worked better. Even when I showed them the pills--exact same, same imprint, same company stamped on the bottle--they insisted paying the jacked up price because the generic 'doesn't work as well'. Just goes to show that the placebo effect is amazing number one, and number two that is the reason the brand can get away with charging that much. there will always be some people who think that it is worth it.

(As an aside, there are a few drugs that come in sustained/extended release dosage formulation where the brand and generic can be different. Not because the actual drug is different, but because the delayed release tablet composition isn't the same)

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

I think that generally, generics work just as well as the branded medications. But - it's often the inert ingredients and the way they are combined in the pill that means that for some people, occasionally, a particular generic medication will not work as well.

For some reason it seems to happen a bit more with inhaled or intranasal meds. Years ago when Flonase was new on the market, it worked brilliantly for me; the eventual generic, prescribed when it became available, just didn't work. It was as if I hadn't used anything. Went back to the branded Flonase & it worked again.

A relative of mine has an asthma/COPD inhaler medication where he and his doctor have to go through all the paperwork to insure he gets the branded med because the generic doesn't work for him; the difference in effect is night and day.

So absolutely it happens, but I think it's pretty infrequent.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

ChynnaBlue · ‎05-22-2012

@Tantallum wrote:
Sometimes the pills are even exactly the same. Same pills produced on the same equipment by the same company in the same factory. but they would still sell the brand name for so much more.

I'm a pharmacist and I used to work in retail while in school. We had a couple of people that would insist on brand name because they thought it worked better. Even when I showed them the pills--exact same, same imprint, same company stamped on the bottle--they insisted paying the jacked up price because the generic 'doesn't work as well'. Just goes to show that the placebo effect is amazing number one, and number two that is the reason the brand can get away with charging that much. there will always be some people who think that it is worth it.

(As an aside, there are a few drugs that come in sustained/extended release dosage formulation where the brand and generic can be different. Not because the actual drug is different, but because the delayed release tablet composition isn't the same)

People tend to go with their gut over science in many cases.

I was really bummed when the non-generic version of albuterol inhalers added a spray counter and the generics didn't, because for a while I was paying more just for the counter. (Why did it take SOOO long to add that? So much safer!) I'm so glad the generic versions also added a counter, because it does save me money.

Now I just need the patent on the Advair Diskus to run out so that can come out as a generic and I'll really save money.

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151949 · ‎03-09-2010

@Tantallum - I agree about some people just refusing to take generics. I am a nurse and , as you know, hospital's always give generics as much as they can. Sometimes when we bring the meds to the patients they absolutely refuse to take the generics and we will then have to see if the pharmacy has the name brand available - they usually don't , and we have to then get the family to bring in the patients meds from home, and there is a whole process we have to go through to get it approved for them to take their own meds from home. All that wasted time - and it really makes no difference at all.

CatsyCline · ‎07-24-2013

i disagree with generics being the same . not so. some XR - extended release - meds have a coating and the manf uses lactose to coat the tabs. some use too much and they use dyes to color the pills. that is a problem for me. one of the meds i take is XR. i could not take coated iron tablets when i was anemic for that reason. lactose intolerant - even the coating affects my GI system

generic thyroid meds are another issue. thyroid dose is to remain constant. i need to split pills for my specific dosage and they are impossible to split evenly. the coating is a hard shell even though the tab is scored it breaks unevenly. Pfizer's sub (no longer making this) had a Levoxyl generic that was easy to break in half. puzzling that drug companies cannot seem to make a coating that is not lactose and dye free and a scored tab that can be cut.

these companies pour all their money into branded drugs and sell off their generics to the lowest bidder. i have to wonder about the ratio of fillers and the active ingredients

stargazergal · ‎02-18-2016

I have to agree with you...... a few years back had taken a prescription (non generic)

when I called in for a refill I forgot to mention I did not want generic. When I saw the

pills were different, I mentioned that I had forgot to. The pharmacist said to go ahead and try them, and if I noticed a difference I could bring them back.

Well there was a difference and I believe time release had everything to do with it.

I did not go back for a replacement, but since then, had decided I was going to request non generic....... have to wonder why the huge price difference on Zoloft 2 dollars vs.

200 dollars.

I don't want to pay that much, we shall see how it goes.

@ashleigh dupray wrote:
i disagree with generics being the same . not so. some XR - extended release - meds have a coating and the manf uses lactose to coat the tabs. some use too much and they use dyes to color the pills. that is a problem for me. one of the meds i take is XR. i could not take coated iron tablets when i was anemic for that reason. lactose intolerant - even the coating affects my GI system

generic thyroid meds are another issue. thyroid dose is to remain constant. i need to split pills for my specific dosage and they are impossible to split evenly. the coating is a hard shell even though the tab is scored it breaks unevenly. Pfizer's sub (no longer making this) had a Levoxyl generic that was easy to break in half. puzzling that drug companies cannot seem to make a coating that is not lactose and dye free and a scored tab that can be cut.

these companies pour all their money into branded drugs and sell off their generics to the lowest bidder. i have to wonder about the ratio of fillers and the active ingredients