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Originally Posted by zippysgoddess  It all comes down to quality control at the facility of the manufacturer.
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The pill you were asking about is manufactured by Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and they have gained an awful reputation for making bad pills. If you do a search for information on their meds, you will pull up many BB sites, similar to this one, with everyone complaining about their products.
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So while some generic meds are great, from companies that maintain high quality standards, some are awful and you get a double whammy if you don't react well to one of the inactives.
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I disagree and think we must be careful of overgeneralizing. I take dextroamphetamine for ADHD and find Mallinckrodt's product to be the best. (D-amphetamine is not a pain med but is a C-II controlled substance like narcotic pain meds such as
oxycodone.) Many or most pharmacy chains where I live have exclusive contracts with Barr for generic d-amphetamine, but in my experience Barr's version produces a less even dependable effect, and I was much more likely to have headaches. I have found posts elsewhere that likewise tout Mallinckrodt's d-amphetamine and rail on other generic brands.
Amphetamine and many opioid pain meds are grandfathered in but when Barr applied to make
Adderall (which contains d-amphetamine but wasn't grandfathered) the samples were twice rejected by the FDA because of too high levels of impurities. So I find it curious that Barr uses a much larger tablet than Mallinckrodt for the same 5mg tablet. Is the extra mass beneficial or benign fillers or undesirable impurities? There could be many reasons but smaller tablets also mean smaller bottles, smaller cases, less weight—issues effecting profits—so companies would take the matter seriously.
Perhaps the ultimate truth is that it depends on the patient, the drug, and the manufacturer. If you have problems, try a different generic brand. This often takes effort because you will likely need to get the pharmacist to special order it or (as in my case) need to find another pharmacy that will special order it. Don't let the pharmacist tell you that they are all the same so don't fuss with another generic brand. Don't be dazzled by mumblings about the FDA and being bioequivalent etc. Instead ask him or her why the words "Brand Medically Necessary" can be used on prescriptions. Actually, you don't need to justify your desire at all.
Don't hastily form a prejudice against Mallinckrodt. (FYI Mallinckrodt has entered an agreement to make the branded version of the drug: Dexedrine.)