Heres just one example of a thread with people discussing this brand/generic issue. This thread is actually discussing the difference between two generics of the same med.
http://www.addforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48086
Wow, this was eye-opening. I'd just
assumed that generics had to be exactly equivalent to the brand, and that the government would enforce it with random testing. Wrong on the first count, not sure about the second. It sounds like the government lets them provide their own studies to show equivalence. Does the government even do random testing, or do they just wait until enough people complain and
then look into it?
And why would the laws for generics be so lax that people would come to distrust them? [um, maybe the big pharma companies actually
like these laws that allow crappy generics?]
And in addition to the possibly lower amounts of active ingredient (and what manufacturer wouldn't try to target the 80% level, hm?), there could be differences in the inactive ingredients, which could affect the drug's absorption rate.
Some quotes from the thread:
They aren't exactly the same "The FDA requires the bioequivalence of the generic product to be between 80% and 125% of that of the innovator product." so there can be a difference they might also use different forms of the chemical which might drop it's effect.
I'm a pharmacist for walgreens. We, at a store level, do not control which generic manufacturers are sent to us. Walgreens buys the cheapest equivalent manuf. available. In this case, corepharma is cheaper for walgreens to buy than barr. Walgreens makes more money using the corepharma generic.
generics do not have to have the "same" absorption rate and bioavailability rate as brand-name products.
Just because Corepharma tells the FDA that their product is equivalent, and the FDA tells consumers that the product is equivalent, doesn't make it true.
People, trust your own judgment.
Remember when BARR was fined for not putting enough active ingredient in their generic ADDERALL? I believe the same issue is going on here. I'm going to try to figure out if there is a way to request that the FDA do a random screening or test on the quality of their generics, just to ensure they're not doing what BARR did (until they got caught and fined that is)...
[It's up to the manufacturer to provide] research proof to indicate that the effects were equivalent. Note: The rules governing the independence of the research are quite accomodating.
[!]
Although they may be 'chemically equivalent', these things are total trash. As others have suggested, this is likely due to the way the pills are packed. Break apart a barr adderall and then break apart a corepharma and you will see how easily the corepharma crumbles in comparison. This poor packing causes the pill to disintegrate faster and the levo-amphetamines are too quickly absorbed which causes the negative side effects most people report (ie jittery feeling, dry mouth, etc)