generic Adderall vs. regular Adderall

[upperdecker]

SWIM was just prescribed Adderall and to his suprise its generic. SWIM didn't know Adderall had a generic. Anyway, is there any notable differences between the two? SWIM looked for a search option but couldn't find one.

[phillylocal]

Ahhh, nothing good ever came easy...look again, there is a search option. (Sorry, I'm feeling sick today, and being bitchy).

ANYWAYS,

SWIM is prescribed adderall too, and gets generics. The generics usually have more fillers in them, but have been reported to be "sweeter"..(the drip). In fact, SWIM read somewhere that there is more "pill" in one 10mg generic than two 20mg brand name's..but he can't verify that for sure.

There also is no generic XR, which is a blessing to all flamingos who like to enjoy other methods of ingestion. take a look at some of the other posts in this forum about adderall there is a decent amt of information...

time to go get some chicken noodle soup....god I hate food poisoning

[staples]

There should be no difference pharmacologically, but sometimes differences are reported. I think sometimes it's the case of shady pharmaceutical companies but I don't think there's a well-known reason why some people seem to have different luck with brand-name vs. generic aside from placebo.

We will start seeing generic Adderall XR's in 2009, when the patent expires. Around the same time, we will probably see the tripple-release adderalls that have been rumored about, so that shire has something else to ensure income.

Your doctor can explicitly prescribe you to name-brand adderall by writing "DAW" (Dispense As Written) on the prescription, as someone else explained to me a while ago on this forum.

[upperdecker]

cool, thanks for the info.

[phillylocal]

Originally Posted by staples

We will start seeing generic Adderall XR's in 2009, when the patent expires. Around the same time, we will probably see the tripple-release adderalls that have been rumored about, so that shire has something else to ensure income.

Besides their triple release XR's they've also got Vyvanse that they're gonna release near 2009, so they can have another monopoly again on the ADHD market...(off topic sorry).

Originally Posted by staples

Your doctor can explicitly prescribe you to name-brand adderall by writing "DAW" (Dispense As Written) on the prescription, as someone else explained to me a while ago on this forum.

My doctor usually checks off the little box: Generics Acceptable....often times script sheets have that too.

[excavator_12]

The difference between generic and name brand adderall is in the amount of regulation over the contents of each pill, or batch of adderall made. generic brands are allowed a 25% margin of error, and even then I hear its not regulated very well. real Adderall is only allowed a 3% margin of error in its production.

That's a huge difference. You'd think they'd regulate a highly addictive drugs contents more closely. anyways, I heard this from the psychiatrist I see.

[staples]

Originally Posted by phillylocal

Besides their triple release XR's they've also got Vyvanse that they're gonna release near 2009, so they can have another monopoly again on the ADHD market...(off topic sorry).

Vyvanse gained FDA approval for treatment in February of 2007, I just switched to it and picked up my first prescription today.

[upperdecker]

Originally Posted by excavator_12

The difference between generic and name brand adderall is in the amount of regulation over the contents of each pill, or batch of adderall made. generic brands are allowed a 25% margin of error, and even then I hear its not regulated very well. real Adderall is only allowed a 3% margin of error in its production.

That's a huge difference. You'd think they'd regulate a highly addictive drugs contents more closely. anyways, I heard this from the psychiatrist I see.

So what do you mean "margin of error"? I'm sorry but I don't follow.

[GForce]

I would assume he is saying that during quality assurance testing if a pill is selected at random it is not held to the same standards as name brand. Margin of error in this case would be on the actual dosage vs the expected dosage in a randomly selected pill. For example, if there is a 20mg IR selected at random, he is saying that generic companies will consider a pill with 20mg +/- 25% as an acceptable product. That would mean for a 20mg generic Adderall they would allow anywhere from 15mg to 25mg in a randomly selected pill in order for that batch to pass quality assurance.

Granted I believe the name brand pharmaceutical companies have much more stringent QA guidelines because they need to compete with cheaper generics, I don't think that generic manufacturers allow margins of error of 25%. For a pharmaceutical like alprazolam or clonazepam, 25% can make a huge difference in some cases. Generic companies like Barr, Teva, Sandoz, and Eon (now owned by Sandoz) have established themselves as being reliable enough that pharmacies and doctors aren't shying away from them and reinforcing the claim that generics are the same as name brand. So, I think there might be a marginally less quality in a generic Adderall over a name brand Adderall, I think it would be so marginal that it wouldn't matter.

[OhCasey]

Originally Posted by excavator_12

The difference between generic and name brand adderall is in the amount of regulation over the contents of each pill, or batch of adderall made. generic brands are allowed a 25% margin of error, and even then I hear its not regulated very well. real Adderall is only allowed a 3% margin of error in its production.

That's a huge difference. You'd think they'd regulate a highly addictive drugs contents more closely. anyways, I heard this from the psychiatrist I see.

Well thats wrong. According to the FDA a generic must deliver the same active ingredient to the bloodstream as the orginal Brand name drug. Now there is a margin of error allowed of 20% below or 25% above the dose, So a 10 mg pill cant contain less then 8mgs (80%) or more then 12.5 mgs (125%) but that same margin of error is allowed for the brand name Adderall as well as the generic. Now theres debate over the FDA measuring the amount in the blood considering most meds work in organs like the liver, cells or elsewhere. Alot of people also complain about time release generic meds not releasing the medication as steady as the brand names but Adderall XR doesnt come in a generic yet so that doesnt apply here.