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YES!!! Reckitt loses U.S. bid to block generic heroin addict drug

^Yea, especially at the beginning when it was all novel, Suboxone was ridiculously expensive (not just the meds, although particularly the pills - going often for more than they'd be worth on the street - the doctor's "visit" itself). When I finally jumped on the band wagon around 14-16mo ago, I didn't really have to pay for anything (literally, with the coupons and insurance).

I also didn't know about these 4mg/12mg dosage strips until recently. Just another attempt at trying to hold on to more of the bupe market and deter consumers to switch to generics. Have never encountered these dosages irl, only the standard 2mg/.5mg and 8mg/2mg pills and strips.

Hopefully with the generics coming out (when I have no idea; I don't think I've seen anything with any sort of date), bupe will begin to move more towards the methadone complex in terms of low cost and ready availability (as it already seems to have begun to do).

As of this post there are no generic versions of Suboxone (buprenorphine AND naloxone), whether pills or strips (I think they still have the patent on the strips so they couldn't have generics for those anytime soon anyways). That said, as has been pointed out, buprenorphine along (e.g. Subutex) has long been avaliable as a generic (doctors are just ignorant of the fact that it will work as well a Suboxone in many if not most cases).

I have not heard anything about making the generics for suboxone into something like the OP for OC oxycotins. Hopefully, as this will cost lots of R&D moneys, the generic manufacturers will just put something out equivalent to the original suboxone pills in terms of actives/inactives. Only time will tell though. They might eventually, but I doubt (knock on wood) it's yet in the works...

I'm looking forward to being able to snort my bupe again, cause I'll get a lot more bang for my buck, be able to lower my dose further and get more of that wonderful full-agonist-like effects and avoid having to deal with the hypochondria that would come with prepping for IM use for me :\ ;)
 
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My friend has been Rx`ed Suboxone for a few years and last week came back from the pharmacy with generics. They`re still orange but no longer stop sign shaped. Now they`re round. They`re also way harder than name brand Subs. Plus they don`t have a score line. So if you take a half a 8mg sub, gone are the days of an easy snap. These are so tough you have to bite them with your teeth.

No mention if they feel weaker than name brand.
 
I actually had prescription insurance that covered a hundred percent once you hit the 300 dollar deductible in any given year...thats like half a suboxone script! I used to get 90 and my receipt would say something like, "your insurance saved you $678.56!

Fuck RB and their transparent ploys to fuck everyone over by monopolizing a drug so many people need, all they ever did is come up with a formula that pointlessly contains naloxone....
 
change-jug said:
My friend has been Rx`ed Suboxone for a few years and last week came back from the pharmacy with generics. They`re still orange but no longer stop sign shaped. Now they`re round. They`re also way harder than name brand Subs. Plus they don`t have a score line. So if you take a half a 8mg sub, gone are the days of an easy snap. These are so tough you have to bite them with your teeth.

No mention if they feel weaker than name brand.
Click to expand...

If someone actually feels they are weaker, they need to report this to the FDA. Not like the FDA actually gives a fuck at all, but that's what you're supposed to do.

As for not being able to split them/them being harder, sounds like it would take them longer to dissolve in a syringe lol.

HOWEVER... you can STILL split them! Buy a pill splitter, easier said than done. If it's a harder tablet, it probably won't crumble as much either.

BlueHues said:
Fuck RB and their transparent ploys to fuck everyone over by monopolizing a drug so many people need, all they ever did is come up with a formula that pointlessly contains naloxone....
Click to expand...

You'd feel differently if you were a CEO, as a company making $1.4 billion per year on Suboxone, I'm sure.

But yeah I'm right there with you, fuck monopolies.
 
change-jug said:
My friend has been Rx`ed Suboxone for a few years and last week came back from the pharmacy with generics. They`re still orange but no longer stop sign shaped. Now they`re round. They`re also way harder than name brand Subs. Plus they don`t have a score line. So if you take a half a 8mg sub, gone are the days of an easy snap. These are so tough you have to bite them with your teeth.

No mention if they feel weaker than name brand.
Click to expand...

Woah! What? Was your friend (previous to as of last week March 24-26, 2013) still getting the Suboxone in pill form? I was under the impression RB had stopped making those Suboxone pills and was only making strips.

This is really interesting! I will have to talk to me doc(s) about it (I'm leaving my current psych cause he's was too much a part of the medical industrial complex, although in leaving the medical industrial complex behind I will have to also leave my insurance behind, and move on to private pay - the best doc I've ever had I got via private pay). But I digress.

I'm very excited to hear the generic has ACTUALLY come out now! At least in some place, in your friends case? Last week you say... Hmmm.

Do you (or anyone) have any links to sources that the generic suboxone pill's come out?
 
I found a picture of the generic Suboxone on-line a few days ago but I had to dig to find it, they're orange and round with two rows of numbers on one side, no slit either AFAIK....
 
man wish these would come to the netherlands or hell even the strips
 
A few of my friends who are on suboxone have all(been forced?) switched over to the strips. I was sure that my friend was going to be switched over to strips as well but it never happened. And now she`s getting the new generics.
 
The place I went to for awhile switched everyone to strips and said one of the reasons for this was that the packaging of everystrip has a tracking number so that eaach strip can be traced back to whomever it was prescribed to if law enforcement happened to catch someone with one of them....
 
^Yea, I hardly imagine LE doing that much work, but I guess that was the idea to track who got them on the blackmarket.

I'm very pleased to hear confirmation that the generic pills have finally come out! I will be talk to my doc in a couple days and switching over.

I think most people were put on the strips simply because RB essentially told doctors to (they strips are "safer" around kids, they melt easier, easier to maintain dosage, AND we will give you a voucher program to cover 50$ of your patient's copay!). Just a marketing ploy as myself and others have said to get patient habituated to the strips so they won't go over to the generic when it comes out.

hehe, I wonder what they'll think of when the patent for the strips themselves expires and there are generic strips available? :D
 
Update! Saw my new psychiatrist doc this week and asked to be switched from the suboxone brand strips to the generic buprenorphine/naloxone pill. Well, he put me on generic buprenorphine (subutex) instead (YES!) because the new generic pill taking the place of the old Suboxone brand pill is still pretty expensive.

I don't have the exact details (I will find out and update again though), but those of us hoping the a generic version of the good ole' Suboxone stop-sign pill would cost significantly less (as the majority is not all generics seem to), well, we're outta luck.

My assumption here is that, as RB has taken their Suboxone pill off the market, the generic buprenorphine/naloxone replacement won't have any competition (or not much), so its manufactorers will still be able to charge a premium for it... Fucking pharma industry...

I wish more people had the opportunity to a truly first class psychiatrist that I've finally found. A bit of advice - generally speaking, especially if you can afford it without any major sacrifices being made, private pay is the way to go. COMPLETELY different experience with this new guy than any other sub doc I've ever encountered via insurance...
 
I got a script for Suboxone the other day and the Walgreens had the generics, but as ^you said, it was less than 5% cheaper than the brand name, so I just got the Suboxone tablets instead of the generics....The Walgreens I went to still had the Suboxone pills in stock, even though I've been hearing for years that they were getting pulled from shelves!

The last 5 years, I always had insurance that paid for most of the cost of my suboxone script and I hadn't paid cash for them in awhile....I was shocked at how much the price had gone up...over 33% of what I used to pay for them before I had insurance! It makes me wonder if RB jacked the price up in the last few years to make as much money as possible before they lost the monopoly they had going!

what RB has done with Suboxone, trying to block other companies from making generic tablets in the name of "safety", jacking the price up....It's a prime example of the sleaziness of the pharm industry! I'm so glad the FDA saw through their charade!
 
^Absolutely, more than a fucking tragedy, that's for sure. But then again, when it comes to orgs like them, what were we really expecting after all?...

From talking with my new psych, the Suboxone brand pills/tablets will still be around for a while. They'll probably get used up or pulled or whatever within a year, two max (unless RB changes their mind given their failure at trying to get the pill version of buprenorphine/naloxone combo in generic banned... kinda funny, they were so adamant that the pill version represented a serious public health/safety problem - kids seeing taste looking orange and taking them given no "protective" packaging a la their strip version - yet they're still happy to make a buck off them, keeping them on the market).

So it would seem that, for now and I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed so in the future, generic sublingual suboxone/buprenorphine+naloxone tablets continue to cost the consumer their legendary, greedily high premium... Guess I was too optimistic on this one, but hey, who knows what the future brings. Maybe more compassionate docs out there will get it around their head that the addition of naloxone isn't absolutely necessary to treat an acute detox case or for maintenance therapy - in which case the generic subutex/buprenorphine is the obvious choice given it's crazy low cost compared to suboxone and suboxone generics.

Then again, again, perhaps I'm a bit optimistic. Whatever, I'm just happy I found such a doctor who actually gives a shit (I mean, since it's private pay, in the end it's not that much different from me having to get suboxone and have my insurance cover doctor visits, at least for now; but once he gets to know me better and required fewer visits - right now we're at once a month - the whole private pay thing will even out, having to pay for fewer visits while still getting the cheaper, and imo, preferable medicine(s)).
 
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This is great to hear. Hopefully we can get the controls on naloxone removed soon. There is no reason why a safe, life saving drug shouldn't be on an open pharmacy shelf.
 
yea they get these in my clinic now. there was there two wihndows one methadone only and the other subs and methadone, when i wasthere the "sign effective may 9th all patients on the film strips will now be receiveing the pills" and i told the urse it was becayse there was going to be a generic and she looked at melike i didnt know what i was talking about, and when i go in now i see the new generic bottle of subs, its all about the money. can you imagine if they gave everyone properly doses methadone and bupe from the same exact source. get rid of the all treacherous pharm comanies.
 
"Obamacare" won against big pharm. cos

Fall of 2011, DEA put out new bupe "recommendations" & one was to use strips (pressure from big pharm. cos. who HATE to c a profitable drug go generic). My dr. did not fall for it, & since then government-supplied bupe (suboxone or subutex, whether prescribed thru Medicare or most state-run Medicaid pgs.) comes from same company & is even cheaper due to the feds making a deal. Not trying to be political or anything - just saying, having been on subutex for over ten yrs. and remembering how ridiculously expensive it was.
 
As for Snorting Discussion & Generics & Strips

It is a proven fact that bupe is less addictive when you snort it. My psych. affirmed (though I really do know more than him after 10+ yrs). And the DEA recommends subutex for in-patient use, but my psych. has final say. I did 2 urine drops in fall of 2011 & tested neg. for narcotics & positive for bupe plus I have hep C and don't need stupid natroxene. I only take my 16mgs ever 3-5 days and has been a life savior. And I do snort it when in the mood. If you shoot it - you are stupid. Very hard on veins & high isn't any better - in fact not as good. But it is a life savior for addicts. Methadone: you are tied to the clinic 5/days per week. I see my psych ever 3-4 months. And re generic: everyone I know gets the smaller pills from French co. Strips are just a way for pharm cos. to make more money, and if I had not had a friend prior to generics (they've been out by various cos.- at first sporadically - since early 2011), I could not have afforded the script: $1000/month back then for 60 8 mg/month, but he knew about skipping days & less is more so had a good stash saved up. I know this for a fact about generics: the first generics were made by some company called Roxane I believe & it was early 2011 I started getting them, tho not every month due to demand. SO MUCH CHEAPER & since bupe fills up just one of two opiod receptors, it works different. So taking twice the dose doesn't = 2x the high. (no high when u have taken correctly as long as i have until started skipping more days, then dosed when the yawning & stuffed up nose started - now 4 days and I will feel a buzz, which is good as keeps me away from girl). That is why 16mg/day is optimal. More than that & u r just wasting it (thats too much after you are on for several yrs). Generics rule in this case. Maybe taking straight bupe makes difference, but don't think so unless you are still using narcotics while on bupe, which I know is VERY common. My psych cleaned house with those urine tests & now going there does not feel like meth clinic but a psych visit vis-a-vis patient mix.
 
It's pretty bad that I'm so low on suboxone that I'm reading about suboxone, as if that'll make a difference in withdrawal.
 
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