On the heels of the five extremist judges on the Roberts’ Supreme court voting last summer to shield multi-national generic drug makers from injury lawsuits brought by Americans (Pliva v. Mensing) comes more evidence to show how ill-informed that decision was. The FDA last week asked Teva Pharmaceuticals to withdraw its generic drug Budeprion XL 300.  Testing showed this drug did not release its key ingredient in the expected amounts. Budeprion XL 300 is supposed to be equivalent to GlaxoSmithKline’s popular antidepressant Wellbutrin XL, which is prescribed to treat depression, anxiety and nicotine withdrawal.

Generic equivalency to brand name drugs is not a question the high court considered before ruling against citizens’ safety. It’s worth noting the FDA said this is only the third time in the last five years it has recalled a generic for equivalency issues, but many Americans know from experience that some generic drugs simply don’t work the same way or as well as the brand-name drugs. Nevertheless, insurance companies will often pay only for the generic if a generic is available. That means people are being forced to take a drug from a company that is no longer responsible for it. And eighty percent of the drug prescriptions filled this year were generic.

by Matthews & Associates