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Colazal discontinued?

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Posted 2/10/2012 10:15 PM (GMT 0)
Today I got word that Senators Amy Klobuchar & Susan Collins have proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate that addresses Rx drug shortages + the failure of the FDA to provide strong systematic oversight of what is becoming a growing problem-- for patients with serious and/or chronic illnesses & their doctors. WE SHOULD ASK OUR RESPECTIVE SENATORS TO CO-SPONSOR THIS! At least it shows some major effort underway to deal with situations like ours-- TG! / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 2/13/2012 1:03 AM (GMT 0)

 Old Hat, YUP! Hopefully we'll have access to Colazal in a few more weeks.  As you say "keep your fingers crossed", and I'll keep trying to hold my breath.

 The bill you're referencing deals more with complete drug shortages with basically one supplier; a lot of the injectable drugs that hospitals use, cancer drugs etc..  It doesn't really affect us, because we (collectively) have Roxane and Mylan..  Yeah right!   But on the other hand "its a start".

Posted 2/13/2012 8:54 PM (GMT 0)
Well I am now down to 3-4 days of brand name Colazal. I called the 1-800 Salix number specified in an earlier post and was told that Colazal should be available "sometime in March". I asked if that meant early March or late March, but I was told they aren't sure.

In the mean time, I got my doctor to write a script for the Mylan generic so I guess I will have to take that for 4-6 weeks until we find out more about the brand name. Not looking forward to it at all!
Posted 2/20/2012 9:51 PM (GMT 0)
Doors12 & Lemonhead-- how are you doing? / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 2/21/2012 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
I went back on Colazal brand name and have been putting 2 Mylan generics in a week. No blood, but I don't feel as well as I did on the brand name. I am only up to 4 out of 9 pills generic. The higher I go, the worse I feel, but I am running out of brand name. Colonoscopy March 19th to re-evaluate.
Posted 2/21/2012 2:37 PM (GMT 0)
I just went to Salix website and Colazal is listed again. All info was there. Last time I looked it had all been pulled from their website. Is it available now? Anyone know what is going on? I have not had time to look into it yet.
Posted 2/22/2012 1:31 AM (GMT 0)
Lemonhead, try contacting Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness. See e-info on their Website. They are keeping after Salix RE brandname Colazal. / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 2/22/2012 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
Old hat, sorry I've been absent from the thread so much, I've been busy shopping for groceries and cooking all the time with the gluten free thing.

As far as how I am doing, I think I am doing pretty well, but mainly due to the gluten free diet. Without it, I have no doubt I would be having a lot of sick IBS type issues like I did before when I was on the generic.

I'll be keeping an eye on the thread more now!
Posted 2/24/2012 4:04 PM (GMT 0)

 For all Concerned:  Salix Giazo has been approved by the FDA, but it will be a few months before it's available at your local pharmacies.  Salix Colazal is back in production and should be available by middle to late March; or early April (at the latest).

Posted 2/25/2012 1:27 AM (GMT 0)
This is interesting. I got my GI appt on Monday and was going to suggest Colazal. I was surprised to see a generic out for that too. Doesn't seem like many had luck with the generic....but my insurance makes it very inconvenient to get brand names when a generic is available. They ask for documentation from the Doctor and send you nasty grams!

Anyway...has anyone been able to get a refill yet?
Posted 2/25/2012 2:42 AM (GMT 0)
OldHat, even though I am doing much better with the gluten free diet, I had a couple instances of stools that I seemed to remember that I'd not had in a while - since I was on the Roxanne balsalazide to be specific. I had a couple of bowel movements recently where they were not diarrhea but had the consistency of porridge. So, I called up the pharmacies today and received a 30 day supply of Mylan generic from a retail pharmacy, since my mail order company only had Roxanne. I figure I will work through the Roxanne generic supply first, so I won't be able to give any more feedback on this issue for a while.
Posted 2/25/2012 2:56 AM (GMT 0)
FYI

I thought I would add this also, to my surprise I was informed by a pharmacist at the mail order company that there are (4) brands of generic Colazal (balsazide). My spelling may be incorrect, but that would be Roxanne, Mylan, Apotex, and Physicians TC.

I was frankly astounded to hear of the last two.

My mail order company only had Roxanne, and Walgreens had Mylan.
Posted 2/25/2012 5:50 AM (GMT 0)
It doesn't matter to me how many pharmas produce a generic version-- because oral generic drugs seem to be a huge boondoggle!!!!!!!! Apparently the feds joined a lawsuit against Roxane Labs that was filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, charging them with fraudulent generic drug pricing which bilked Medicare & Medicaid out of big money. The 1st Rx generic I encountered, back in the 1970s when "generic" was a new concept, happened to be a skin ointment. But putting something variant in ingredients on your skin is a lot less risky than swallowing generic meds, it seems. Even the NY Times reported a couple winters ago that research has shown generics to be problematic in cases of cardiac, epilepsy, & clinical depression treatment. In my experience it is worth documenting medical need for the brandname to my insurer so that I can get effective treatment covered! We have to stop these corporations from playing around when our quality-of-life suffers. (Just my take on it.) / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 2/25/2012 4:03 PM (GMT 0)

 doors12,  There are only two versions of generic Balsalazide Disodium: Roxane and Mylan.  Apotex discontinued their version around November 2010, and Physicians TC does not manufacture it and has never been approved by the FDA (hence, it's not there). 

 Brand Colazal is back in production and will be available in some distrubution centers by the middle of March (it may be a bit longer to get to the pharmacy).  On the good side, at least Salix has re-started the production of Colazal and has decided to keep it along with their new drug Giazo.

Old Hat,  You're right about the FDA and the way they approve generics; and that is where some changes need to be made.

  

Posted 2/25/2012 6:23 PM (GMT 0)

 doors12, All,  Sorry about my previous update, but some things are changing faster than I can keep up.  Apotex has restarted their generic production of Balsalazide Disodium as of Jan 30, 2012.  So now we have Colazal back on line, and generic's: Apotex, Mylan, and Roxane.

 "Physicians Total Care" is an FDA approved Repackaging company, that physicians can subcontract with, that takes original product on the market and repackages it and sells it through the physician, or physician backed pharmacy.  You wouldn't know which generic you were getting, Roxane, Mylan, or now Apotex.

Posted 3/4/2012 4:34 AM (GMT 0)
FYI bump-- our humble thread is now a major Google entry under "Colazal"! / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Post Edited (Old Hat) : 3/4/2012 12:24:49 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 3/6/2012 12:54 AM (GMT 0)

 Old Hat, You finally made the big time, and "Colazal Discontinued" no longer applies. :-)   My pharmacy should be getting Colazal in around March 20th.  I can live with that!

Posted 3/6/2012 12:57 AM (GMT 0)
To all inquiring about brandname Colazal production updates, Gastro60's reply here above is the latest word. It will be back sometime by April as far as we know. / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 3/7/2012 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
bump
Posted 3/7/2012 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
I was so excited about this, I called the company to see what the deal is.  They told me that they expected to see inventory by this month, but it has not happened.  The drug has not been discontinued, but is still on hold and is not in production.  They have no idea when it will be in production....if ever.  I am hopefull, but not holding my breathe. 
Posted 3/8/2012 4:28 AM (GMT 0)
Has anyone had luck getting generic from apotex? My wife took apotex prior to it being on long term hold and it worked for her. When it went away she had to go to brand name because Mylan and Roxanne were completely ineffective. Now that Colazal has been stopped I have been trying desperately to get generic from apotex. The wholesale distributors (cardinal health, mckesson...) are not supplying it to pharmacies even though apotex has the drug in stock (I have spoken with them to verify this). Has anyone had any success here? Every day that passes my wife gets worse.
Posted 3/8/2012 4:31 AM (GMT 0)
I know I mentioned Apotex earlier in the thread, but I don't know anything other than what was written in this thread. Wish I could be of more help. Perhaps you could call some pharmacies and speak with the pharmacists, or look online? Someone here may know something also.
Posted 3/8/2012 5:33 AM (GMT 0)
Clearly there is a discrepancy between Gastro60's March 20 availability date & the phone response at Salix reported by Lemonhead! Aaaarrrrrgg! / Old Hat (31 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)
Posted 3/8/2012 9:53 PM (GMT 0)
I have called about 30 pharmacies and spoken directly with Apotex about its availability. They have balsalazide in stock now but have only sold it through Kaiser, a closed-network healthcare provider not in my state. The pharmaceutical wholesalers - primarily McKesson and Cardinal Health - seem either unable or unwilling to procure the drug from apotex even though we have a "dispense as written" specifying Apotex as the manufacturer. I have had pharmacists calling McKesson and Cardinal to order it and have not had any luck. No one can give me a straight answer as to why Apotex has the drug in stock and available, yet no one can/will order it. 

Has anyone been able to get the generic from Apotex? I would love to hear from you and how you did it. Colazal and the generic from Apotex are the only drugs that have worked for my wife. Mylan and Roxann have been completely ineffective.

 

Posted 3/8/2012 11:30 PM (GMT 0)
 Salix Customer Service (whom most of you are talking too) have been checking their warehouse inventory status, and relaying that information (which is long term back order).  Management has just corrected that.  Customer Service will be giving out new information in the immediate future.

 Colazal is currently being shipped from the manufacturer to the wholesalers (bypassing the Salex warehouse), and should start showing up at some pharmacies within a week.

  

 

Post Edited (gastro60) : 3/9/2012 6:27:04 AM (GMT-7)

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