Thoughts on Pulmicort vs. generic version?

[ett]

I went to refill DS2's pulmicort prescription yesterday and found out that a generic is now available and my MA law they are required to fill it with the generic unless the doctor writes "no substitution allowed." DS2 has been doing well with the pulmicort and I'm hesitant to switch him to generic even though it is "technically" the same.

Does anyone use generic pulmicort? What is your experience with it? It seemed like a quick search online showed that it was available a while back and then it was pulled off the market because of some lawsuits and now it's available again. I definitely know something has changed since last month because I we've been paying $25 co-pay for it since we started in May but when I called my insurance co. yesterday, they said the co-pay is now $40 because it is on the non-preferred brand name list.

Thanks!

[khalloc]

My son used to use Pulmicort. But now we use Flovent instead - its alot faster to administer. like 2 minutes instead of the 10 to use the nebulizer.

If he was still on Pulmicort I would not hesitate to change to the generic. Its the exact same thing - the lawsuits were probably something not having anything to do with the actual drug itself.

[egoldber]

The lawsuit was for patent infringement. In 2008, AstraZeneca successfully sued the generic manufacturer to stop sales. The settlement reached said that they could start selling the generic version in December 2009, with a percent of sales (or maybe profits?) going to AstraZeneca.

[michellerw]

I would call your child's doctor and ask what they have to say. Often the generic comes available in the middle of a prescription cycle like this and the doc has an opinion but didn't have an opportunity to express it.

I had to do this when Depakote came up on generic -- most neurologists are not keen on generics and I knew this, so I phoned my neuro immediately and he told me to stay the course on the brand name. It really depends on the drug, but I know that many neuro and psych drugs are different enough that some sensitive patients do feel a difference.

ETA: I pay a $50 copay for "brand name medically necessary" drugs. And you can bet I raised an unholy ruckus with the insurance company over paying so much for the "privilege" of the drugs my doctor required for me.

[catsnkid]

It must of just become available because I would get the generic too. I would not have an issue with it. He is on generic Duo Neb.

[cono0507]

We've been using mostly generic Pulmicort for the past year now for my 2 year old and occasionally brand name, depending on what our pharmacy had. I've noticed no difference and she has been well controlled on it and tolerating it well.

[ett]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I remember seeing something about the patent infringement, but didn't know the details. Our prescription coverage is changing next year (to something more expensive) so I decided to get one more refill of the brand name right now. We're seeing the allergist in a couple of weeks, so I'll ask him his thoughts on what to do. We may have to do generic regardless because the co-pay of the brand name is just going to be too expensive with the new insurance.

[sunshine873]

Similar to pp, my DD started on the generic version of Pulmicort and it seemed fine. A few months ago we moved to the name-brand (only because that's all the pharmacy had.) I didn't notice a difference.