Considering switching from a brand name to a generic drug, or vice versa? Here’s what you need to know.
Many medications can be changed from brand name to generic, or vice versa, with no problems. But sometimes even tiny changes in a medication formula can make a big difference in how a medication affects your body. Here are nine types of medications you need to talk to your doctor about before switching.
Medications for underactive thyroid
Because the thyroid is such a sensitive gland, even a small change in the dose of your thyroid medication may have a major effect on the amount of thyroid hormone in your blood. “Generic products do not have to contain the same inactive ingredients as the comparable brand-name products,” explains Susan W. Miller, professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Mercer University College of Pharmacy in Atlanta. “For any patient, levothyroxine — whether brand names Synthroid, Levoxyl or Levothroid, or generic — should ideally not be switched,” Miller says. If a switch is necessary, “the patient’s thyroid levels should be closely monitored to detect changes in the blood levels of the hormone,” she cautions.
Asthma inhalers
There are several different forms of albuterol inhalers (Ventolin, Proventil HFA, ProAir HFA, ProAir RespiClick) and levalbuterol (Xopenex HFA). Miller says it’s hard to get the exact same response when using different albuterol inhalers because they are “rescue therapy” for asthma attacks. To play it safe, don’t change the brand of your albuterol inhaler without your doctor’s supervision and monitoring. Also, you might want to double-check your prescription before you leave the pharmacy in order to make sure your new inhaler matches the one you had picked up the last time.
Digoxin for heart failure
In 1984, Congress passed a law that made it faster and easier to get generic medications approved. However, since both brand name Lanoxin and its generic version digoxin were already on the market before this law was passed, makers of the generic version didn’t have to prove whether digoxin worked similarly enough to Lanoxin for the two to be swapped. Since the differences between digoxin and Lanoxin haven’t been studied, Miller says it’s best not to switch.
Several more drug families listed. Worth a look......