That is a handy tip.  Thanks

Brand Name - PANADEINE FORTE

Generic alternatives - CODALGIN FORTE, CODAPANE FORTE, COMFAROL FORTE, DOLAFORTE, PRODEINE FORTE

choice.com.au

We have a Chemist Warehouse opened  recently and Prescriptions are very much cheaper which is great! but we always use Generics if they are available :) and very happy when they are available which is on most 'scripts. We save quite a bit though going to Chemist Warehouse rather than our usual Chemist on 'scripts. and Vitamins etc.

..

Being members of My Chemist also gives us some $$ off buying each month and we both get free gifts which is a bit of fun :) 

Seggie. Generics may contain a filler to bulk up an item and though you are told it is safe, it may be to some but to some like me, no thanks. I pay the extra to make sure I know what I'm ingesting.

Me too Seggie.. my blood pressure tablets are avapro and the chemist gave me the generic for them .. something in them gave me headaches and blood pressure rose enormous so went back and said I gave them a week and no good I want the avapro which I have taken for 4 yrs and work good.. so Chemist reluctantly gave me what I asked for.. even though the doc has a x on the prescription it makes no different they still always try to give you the generic brand why do they do that? they say to make it cheaper for me but they are the same price as my avapro are.. strange !if I may say so ..

Seggie again.  I don't know if this is true but I heard pharmacies get a little more if they can get a person to accept a generic. Can anyone find out if this is true?

This is an Australian article:

http://www.yellowpages.com.au/articles/pharmacies-18597/what-does-it-mean-to-get-a-generic-or-a-brand-medication-20111019t091508n00f0094

This one is US but it talks a bit about how pharmacies make different amounts of money from different brands.  Like most businesses, there's a lot of competition and, like most businesses, there are different incentives to push different brands.

http://www.dailynews.com/health/ci_11784143

My own medication is generic.  My doctor is quite happy about it, as the active part of the medications has to be the same as the original and if I have no reaction to the 'filler' I might as well benefit from the lower cost.  

Seggie. It's just that I'm strange, girls, that some generic brands don't like me. Believe me, I am all for anything that works the same but once it affects me, it has to go on the 'no thanks' file.  I'm on two other generic brands that are perfectly OK.  The doctor told me once I was different.  Now you all know.  Love to all

We are the same Seggie if we find something does not suit of course like you would not use it, as of course our health is paramount but just it gets annoying the kick backs/perks the doctors etc  can receive  from the big Companies because they push their products. I look around and see how many meds. are advertised even in the Doc's office. BUT whatever is best for each of us is what is the go of course.

Ooaa Seggie is different Seggie is different - I am VERY sure Peter and I are both different also Seggs. I mean who else (still) has much better blood pressure readings and all because of Yakult? and after all these years Resveratrol has been proven to stop my flushing but has to be two caps. a day but it is working yippee. At last I am off the Pill.

All the best

Phyl.

I am sure I posted here on this forum re the rorting of the PBS by pharmacists by being charged a lot less than the agreed price for generic drugs and then charging the PBS with the larger amount - so in their profit bottom line to push them on customers because money is the one thing that motivates people in 21st Century

PBS had an agreed price for generic drugs - the pharmacists pay for their generic drugs from the generic companies at a lot less then charge the the higher amount to the PBS.

Therefore making it very much more profitable to make the customer buy a generic than a tried and tested drug that had had to pass many years of testing before being approved.

So that is why they push generics on the public and have done for the last 6 years and only ends this year so we may see a change in the lie that these are exactly the same as the original drug - because they aint. Or same drug different manufacturer.

In 2006 Tony Abbott made them cut the price they were charging the government by 12.5% per year until 2012.He also said he would pay out compensation in 2012 to the Pharmacist for the loss of their 'rorting the system'- last bit my words - but OTT imo.

Now remember generic drugs only have to have the active ingredient in them and not mandatory to put in first grade of active nor do they have to follow the original formula on fillers which can be anything and this can change the efficacy of the drug and how it works. making it either too weak in some cases or too strong in others if you spend hours on google and read the millions of articles printed by health professionals.

Yes and my doctors were 100% against these generics one time and today even prescribe them having done a 100% turnabout - which to my mind is only activated by one thing - money and we all know the pharmaceutical companies hold free holiday seminars for Doctors in lovely resorts like hamilton Island to push their latest drug and this is tax deductible as 'education'. Maybe the generic companies have now jumped on the bandwagon since 2006 - cant help thinking as this is business today.

Dont worry Seggie we are all different that is why all drugs have different side effects on different folk ask anyone with the knowledge Doctor etc.

I have had a bad time using generics without knowing they weren't the same being told the lie exactly the same just a different manufacturer on a anti biotic which simply worked for about 4 weeks and the infection returned. Back to doctor no saving for government

Also experienced not a lot of codeine - if any in a packet of Cobran Forte slipped into my bag even though an X on the script meaning no generic substitute and gave them back the whole 9 boxes next day with 2 tablets used and got 9 boxes of the real thing Panadeine Forte which most definately does have 30mg of Codeine in each tablet unlike the generic which I think is no longer on the list & I did complain about it.

Which is why I posted the good news that a re-badged Prodeine Forte was  now available without paying the $22 levy for those who needed a strong pain killer that actually worked on strong pain.

And of course Fwed's post is incorrect as Prodeine Forte is not a generic drug manufactured by a generic company at all but a re-badge by a division of the original manufacturer.

It is simply a way by the big drug companies to get their share of that market by re-badging for those who have the nous to seek out and save. And also to give their health 100% not gamble that a generic which is random tested maybe like Pan Pharmacueiticals was before it killed soneome and was closed down for cutting corners for more profits will work as well as that first world medicine which underwent rigorous testing.

Fine if Phyl and Peter are happy not to pay for the tested drug as I remember her saying before along with Nurses because in Public as well as Private hospitals they use them these days too unless one requests not to

I do the shopping and I wouldnt risk my husband's health or my own health for the sake of a few dollars saved. Makes little sense.

Do remember Pan Pharmaceuiticals who were shut down in Sydney for cutting corners which led to a bad health outcome for a patient. And were randomly tested as are generic drug companies who make these generic drugs the pharmacists and not Doctors too push.

So how can you rely on generic drugs - manufactured overseas in many cases - by generic drug companies to be randomly tested.

Too much paid for generic drugs

Abbott sends message re price of drugs to pharmacists 2006

Generic drugs also introduced new risks for vulnerable patients, particularly elderly people who often take an array of pills every day.

Don't trust pharmacists / chemists / alcamists / crystal ball gazers or whatever else they like to call themselves these days.

They all seem to get off on giving unwanted advice mostly it is bullsh-t.

Trust your doctor and demand the branded drug that he / she orders for you.

Almost all generic goods are low standard, what ever they may be.

Not 100% sure what "rebadge Prescriptions" are Big Val.

Even Googling (I will put on my Pauline face and ask "Please Explain"

Have a special Monday folks as this one never returns.