Prescription medicines

I found I could easily purchase generic antibiotics at Watson's in Rob's. You can always request generics at other pharmacies. I had varied luck at the different Generic's Pharmacies, sometimes requiring a prescription, sometimes not. Generika was pretty good, too.

 

Slightly off subject. Sounds like you are a doctor, so maybe you can educate me. I've always wondered how a doctor decides whether they prescribe the name brand or a generic. Most would probably say that it has to do with their patients experience. I sometimes wonder if it's true. Unfortunately, not all patients respond the same so even if a drug has shown success it doesn't mean that this particular patient will respond, so why not start cheap. Half kidding.....but after seeing many drug trails results where the placebo is somewhat effective I wonder if maybe we should start there. With the cost of drugs and our health care system in the USA it seems that starting with the cheaper alternatives and gradually getting more expensive would be a smart plan. In my experience, I find Dermatologists tend to start with the newest most expensive, unless the patient makes it's clear that a different approach is preferred. Insurance tends to hide the issue, so most patients don't directly see the result of this practice, hence they don't care, but I have a high deductible health plan so it is painfully obvious to me. Here is an example. Notice that the placebo is 33% effective and the name brand drug (aczone) is 41% effective. Not sure what the generic costs, but I'm sure it less and has an effectivity of between 33-41%, but likely within a percent or two the brand name.

 

There used to be a home remedy for acne, to wash with urine. The urine does contain uric acid which can act as a cleanser and disinfectant...but likely the improvement seen was primarily because if you washed your face with urine you probably washed it very well afterward.

 

Cheers Cab, thanks for the question. Loads of answers, ranging from "depends on the drug rep' who buys the best lunch" (now illegal in the UK), to those that keep up to date via the science journals, to those that trust to their clinical experience and the results that they get with their patients. That and the financial position of their General Practice/Hospital. Um I am more the last two with a desire to do the latest science - if we can afford it.

Not all trials will feature a placebo. Sometimes it is comparative, for example, 'treatment as usual' vs the new treatment. Or they will do what are called 'meta analyses'..... "We collected all the research on all this particular treatment, applied some very complex statistical analyses on it and summarise. The computer said..". That's powerful research, as research is not always experimental. Analysing what is known so far can be very useful.

As an aside I accessed your US Freedom of Information Act when several patients described alarming side effects with a new compound. I found 12 trials with such side effects described. Guess what? The drug company published the one that showed beneficial effects....and they got their license, not that I have a bias against Mr Big Pharma or the Corporate Medical Industrial Oligarchy (bet that phrase will p.iss someone off here, but go on, I love to debate with folks out of their depth).

Anyway, most jobbing Docs, in my opinion, try to weigh up the patient experience, keep up with the science, balance the financial position whilst trying to uphold the Oath. Tricky, mostly impossible, but ultimately rewarding. A critical eye on the limitations of the research always helps. I hope that has gone some way to answering your question. Thanks for the interest.

C

 

Mercury drug on the north highway was the last and preferred place for me to get medicines and I never needed a prescription but it has been a year and things may have changed.

I had tried Rose Pharmacy across the street from the public market but I got sticker shocked on the prices.

 

In a generic pharmacy I asked for Amoxicillin. Sorry Sir, only on prescription. I went to a pharmacy near the market , generic or branded Sir? No talk about prescription.????

 

Ask your doctor if you could get similar results with simvastatin (Zocor) that is quite cheap here more so than branded Lipitor. In drugs the capitalized name is the brand name and the lower cased name is the compound.

shakey

 

Before leaving the US for the Philippines two weeks ago, I asked my gastroenterologist if he could prescribe something for a "just in case" intestinal distress from too much local water. He said there's a new combination (read: old drugs combined into something with a fancy name and a patent on the formula) called Xifaxan that will work wonders. A six-day course (12 doses) was going to run US$958. I told the pharmacist that I had changed drug plans and gave him my new insurance info. My co-pay was still US$900. He called my doctor and worked out a substitute, azithromycin. Insurance co-pay: ZERO. That generic contains the heavy-lifter drug of the combination in Xifaxan and will probably be quite sufficient, if needed.

 

You can also easily get Azithromycin, very inexpensively, at most of the Drug stores in Dumaguete, without a prescription. I bought 8 boxes to bring home to the USA (just in case) with me until I could get insurance. I tossed out 5 of the boxes yesterday (about to expire)...didn't need them.

 

IN the last few months, DOH has been cracking down on pharmacies selling anti-biotics without prescriptions, due probably to the rampant misuse nhere. Mercury drug was forst to start requiring scripts, but one by one many others are also now requiring scripts for anti-biotics.