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Re: Is there a generic Lexapro?

Posted by bleauberry on November 10, 2008, at 17:22:52

In reply to Is there a generic Lexapro?, posted by raisinb on November 9, 2008, at 19:59:28

Yeah, insurance companies are weird in their decisions. I've seen cost analysis stuff done with other antidepressants, and lexapro is actually one of the most cost effective in terms of overall cost, efficacy, and avoidance of switching...all these things make the cost of treatment billed to the insurance company higher in the long run. Lexapro is one of the most cost effective meds, so why an insurance company wouldn't endorse it is weird. I saw one study where Cymbalta cost like 3 times as much as lexapro, not just because of the cost of the pills, but because of the side effects or lack of efficacy that caused a lot of people to stop it or switch which led to many more doctor visits (billed to insurance) than the people on lexapro had.

Insurance companies generally only pay a small portion of a brand name drug, regardless whether it has a generic option or not.

Someone else mentioned it already, but your best bet is to get 20mg pills and cut them in half. The 20mg won't cost much more than the 10mg, but will last twice as long, saving you a lot of money over any given time period.

And besides all this, I always preach to people to stay away from generics. Not that they don't work, well, a lot of times they don't, it's just that they aren't usually as reliable as brand, and if you are trying to duplicate what was done in FDA clinical studies to approve that drug, they used brand, not generic.

Just my own opinion and bias, but I could pull up hundreds of posts to show you why I hate generics. The fillers in the pills do make a difference. Brand is worth the cost. Just get bigger pills and cut them to size. That way they become a lot more affordable.

Going forward, if you ever start another med and it is available as generic, refuse it, insist on the brand. Use the larger dose sizes cut to custom sizes in order to afford it.


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