Meds from different manufactures = different results?

[GWN7]

My Dr. perscribed Teva-betahistine 16 mg for a vertigo attack I had end of December. It was 1/2 tablet 3 times a day. It worked well. By the end of the week I was down to 1/2 tab twice a day and week two I was only taking 1/2 tablet once a day. Dr. had said it should get better in 3 weeks. This left me with left over pills. I had another attack last week and started to take my left over pills which helped alot. My regular Dr. is away on holidays so to get a perscription I went to a walkin clinic and the Dr. there perscribed the same med as I was taking. The walkin clinic has a pharmacy next door so I took the script there to be filled. They gave me Novo-betahistine 16 mg. I didn't notice this till I figured out the pills weren't doing what I expected.

They don't work as well as the Teva. I had to take the Nova 1/2 tablet 4X a day for the last three days to be "normal".

Can the same meds from different manufactures be different strenghts even if they are supposed to be the same (16 mg) ?

For those of you who don't know what a vertigo attack is, I can best describe it as you know what it's like to drink far too much? That second just before you throw up? When the room spins around and you have to hold your arms out or else you will fall down? Well that's what it's like when you wake up and you feel like your spinning around for the rest of the day. Not nice.

[flatbutt]

They " shouldn't" be different. 16mg is 16 mg. However the pills from different manufacturers may have a different dissolution profile. Meaning that they may take longer to get into your system. Or you may have gotten a sub-therapeutic batch. Inform the pharmacy and contact the manufacturer as well. There may be a defect in their QC process.

[porsche4life]

Yes, there is an accepted percent range on generic drugs, some are closer than others. It would be my guess that the Teva is closer to the true 16mg, or maybe a little over.


Usually they allow them a range something like +-5% or some such, depending on the drug.

[nynor]

what p4life said. generic tolerances are in the 20% range, IIRC. + or -.

[porsche4life]

I'm not sure on the % either D. The way my old boss described it to me, I got the feeling that the accepted % varied by drug. However, he was a half assed DpH, so you never could take what he said at face value.....


I know that different drugs are more sensitive than others. Like warfarin is sensitive, so it is best to stick to the brand you are on....

[nynor]

i'll ask the pharmD at work. she is really sharp.

[Tobra]

Internist I know will not take anything but brand name coumadin.

[GH85Carrera]

Did you see 60 minutes last night?

It was some amazing stuff about placebo effect. Some folks getting knee surgery did better with sugar pills than pain pills. Of course they THOUGHT they were getting the real pills.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I'm not sure on the % either D. The way my old boss described it to me, I got the feeling that the accepted % varied by drug. However, he was a half assed DpH, so you never could take what he said at face value.....


I know that different drugs are more sensitive than others. Like warfarin is sensitive, so it is best to stick to the brand you are on....

the drug product must indeed be within a range for active ingredient content. But remember, that number is an average taken from several assays. Bio-availability is not determined for a generic but bio-equivalence is. So there may indeed be a batch specific issue going on here.

[Drdogface]

Some meds are famous for being crappy in generic form... Thyroid meds used to be worthless in generic and you had to go branded. It's the 'bioavailability' that's the issue.