I had been taking Imitrex for almost 20 years and it was effective almost 90% of the time. One of my three daughters also suffers from migraines and Imitrex was also effective for her. Apparently, the patent for Imitrex expired 1 or 2 years ago, because that is when we started getting generics from our pharmacy and my insurance won't pay for brand name drugs if generics are available. We have both found that the generics we have received have not been as effective as Imitrex. They don't relieve the migraine as quickly or as reliability as Imitrex. The two generic brands of sumatriptan we have used are Dr. Reddy and Cobalt Laboratories. Has anyone found a particular generic as effective for them as Imitrex?
Answers (5)
doxipups11 Oct 2009
The generic I get is made by Glaxo so it's exactly the same as Imitrex - but that's for the injections. I haven't had to get the tabs yet - I still have a nice stockpile of the 100s and my doc has me trying Axert because the Imitrex tabs have not been working as well as in the past. Unfortunately, if the Axert doesn't work I cannot take the Imitrex later - so it's either suffer or go to the ER.
Lucky for me, the generic injections are only $4 by insurance (they are $199 without insurance). Maybe you should try them.
itsmetoo2
itsmetoo2
13 Oct 2009
What the differance between Imitrex and the generic is the inert ingeredients they use to compound (holds the medicine in a pill form or liquidify) the medicine. The inert ingredients can change the amount of time it takes for the medicine to get into your system. To get a generic to disolve differently they will have to change those ingredients to come closer to the origional.
I wish you the best.
Like what I said before is to get a letter from your doctor and send it to yoour insurance so they can get you the band drug of Imitrex. I have Medicare part D and that is what we have to do. I have had other insurance companies and they are the same way. So this is nothing new.
Wishing you good health
harriet125 Oct 2009
My neurologist asked me if I thought the generic was as effective as the brand-name. I thought it was my imagination, and was afraid to mention it!!! I was SOOO glad he asked me, because he had had several other patients say the same thing to him. They didn't believe the generic was any good at all, and didn't mind telling him so!
My insurance requires a $75 copay if I choose the brand name, but I'd rather pay it. I have 3-4 migraines per week. Now this week, the pharmacist told me the injections were available in generic, but I didn't want to take a chance, but they only charged $25. I don't know why, but I am going back to the neuro next month. I will ask about the insurance exception. It might save me a bundle of money through the year.
I do know that the fillers aren't the same in generics, and apparently in this case, the neuro told me that the actual drug itself was not quite the same, although I thought that was illegal or disallowed. I have others that are generic that don't seem to matter, but this time it does...
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Thank you so much for your reply, it was very helpful.