Posted by Noa on May 29, 2004, at 13:24:48
In reply to Serzone dropped in US, now what?, posted by cateb on May 20, 2004, at 11:46:41
OK, so I wasn't ready to really react until now but now I've had my first "reality check" with this Serzone situation.
I decided to refil my scrip a bit earlier than I usually do (I usually wait until the last minute) just in case there were any hassles with getting it filled. When I dropped off my scrip at the pharmacy, they told me they only have one bottle of 60 pills left (I take 2x 250 strength) and they were not able to reorder ANY more in any strength because the distributor is out of it.
I guess I had deluded myself into thinking that because it was not actually recalled there would still be supplies in the pipelines. But that was probably naive of me. I bet there were stocks out there but people went and bought them all up. I don't know.
So, I asked about the nefazadone generic from Mylan labs (thank you Happy Girl for letting me know which company makes it!) and they said that right now they had none in stock (they hadn't ever stocked the generic)and that it is available from the distributor only in different strengths than the 250's.
I called my pdoc, who got on the phone immediately, which I appreciate. He said next time I come in, he would write the scrip for 5x 100 which is one of the strengths the generic comes in. He said he doesn't know if the generic will stay around--hasn't heard anything. He says he is still prescribing the med and would continue as long as it is availalbe, and is even ready to start new patients on it because he has found no safety problems in his patients.
I went back into the store and talked to the pharmacist again to leave my script but just have it partially filled with the 60 Serzone they had available, and discussed the generic for next time. They looked up the distributor again and said that the distributor doesn't even have the 100's which means I would have to either get two different strengths to combine, or perhaps might be able to cut and paste, so to speak, to get the right amount. OK, that's not a big deal. However, the pharacist also said that they aren't certain from week to week what the supply lines will be like for the generic, as there is a huge sudden demand on it since the announcement about Serzone.
I must admit, before I was annoyed but had thought that it would be fine for a while and wasn't really feeling worried yet about this. But after this pharmacy encounter, now I'm worried. I don't want to have to stop Serzone--it works for me and I've had no health problems from it. I've been stable for a few years now and I don't want to risk losing that by having to go through a major med upheaval.
poster:Noa
thread:348860
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040527/msgs/351864.html