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Posted 6/2/2013 2:21 PM (GMT 0)
So, my doc has taken me off Asacol after more than 10 years, doing my own research I found that there is a toxic plastic that was found in Asacol, leading to it being pulled from the market.
My questions are:

Should I get tested for this toxic plastic and if so, how do I go about it?

Is there a class action suit at this time?

How do the other drugs stack up to asacol?

I'm a bit apprehensive about switching maintenance meds, it's a delicate balance.
I'd like to know more about where I go from here.
Posted 6/2/2013 3:18 PM (GMT 0)
Ahhh America. Sue first ask questions later). I suggest you talk to your doc and do a search of the forums (there was a big thread on this). Otherwise dont know much about it myself. Good luck!
Posted 6/2/2013 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
It's not about a lawsuit, I just wanted to know if the plastic found is Asacol is dangerous or harmless.
Also, I'm not American and don't live in the United States!
Madcat25, Thats a pretty nasty, nationalistic thing to say -especially for a moderator!

Post Edited (beatUC) : 6/2/2013 2:11:03 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/2/2013 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
I have heard about asacol being pulled but I haven't heard any details about the coating or if we should get some kind of testing... I am curious about the same thing. I was on Asacol for about 5 years.
Posted 6/2/2013 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
I personally believe the toxic plastic thing is a load of crap. I don't think it exists, contrary to some published reports. Asacol HD has not been pulled and it is presumably made the same way as Asacol, just twice as big. Also, the new drug delzicol is nothing but a regular Asacol pill put inside of a capsule that dissolves in the stomach and nobody is talking about the plastic in that. The public has been duped into accepting that generic Asacol will not be available and that we must continue with the expensive meds. This all just magically happened right at the very same time the patent expires and generic Asacol would have become available. I'm not sure how this effects the generic Asacol that has been available in certain countries such as Canada.
Posted 6/2/2013 4:00 PM (GMT 0)
Gary -this doesn't look like a load of crap:

"In one case, the man taking Asacol for his ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, had a concentration of a dibutyl phthalate (DBP) metabolite in his urine measuring nearly 17,000 parts per billion, according to a case study reported by the Harvard/CDC team. The average for the general population was 46."

17,000 vs 46, that's a whole lot!
Posted 6/2/2013 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
I made a thread earlier titled "Asacol dibutyl phthalate" on THIS very forum, and somehow it was deleted. (I know I didn't delete it)

I made that thread when my Gastro (the same one who tried to push pred before anything else) Rx'd me Asacol HD.

Dibutyl Phthalate is pregnancy category C as it may cause testicular damage in developing fetuses.

Post Edited (fightUC) : 6/6/2013 12:25:38 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/2/2013 6:07 PM (GMT 0)
beatuc: I'm not sure what that particular case study actually means. They themselves only mentioned ONE case. If it was so prevalent then why didn't they report many cases of high levels instead of just one? Maybe it is possible that in that one case the patient was actually ingesting something else which caused such a high level of DBP. Also, I'm not really understanding why regular Asacol is bad news while Asacol HD is ok to take. It looks like the same exact thing to me, just twice the dose. On top of that I'm not understanding why Asacol is bad news but if you put the Asacol in a capsule that dissolves in the stomach then all of a sudden it is ok, no DBP to worry about. Somehow there is a lot more to this than meets the eye. I often roll my eyes at those who talk medical conspiracies but this might actually have some meat to it. It's just too convenient that this all happened exactly at the time the patent was running out.
Posted 6/2/2013 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
i wouldn't be surprised if it's BS and just a way to continue making companies unable to make a generic form of the medication. Is the new drug generic? I know asacol was about to be generic.

I did not remove any threads. I don't see any reason for that to be removed unless there was some kind of violation of the terms and even in that case, it would have most likely been locked and reviewed.
Posted 6/2/2013 6:52 PM (GMT 0)
is this the topic you're looking for
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2689473
Posted 6/3/2013 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
No notsosicklygirl, I made the topic a few months ago and I remember a very desperate mother replied to it. I did not reply back to her and I regret it.
Posted 6/3/2013 12:44 PM (GMT 0)
fightUC, is this the thread you're looking for?
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2530577
Posted 6/3/2013 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
fruitgirl! wow yes that was the one! amazing! so I guess it wasn't mysteriously deleted haha, yay
Posted 6/3/2013 2:19 PM (GMT 0)
Glad I could help! If you want to know how I found it let me know and I'll try to walk you through it. Basically, I used the function where you can sort the forum by "started by" instead of "last comment" to find all of the posts you started. It takes a bit of time, but once you know what you're doing it's pretty easy.
Posted 6/3/2013 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
Check out this thread for previous discussion about this: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2689473&p=7

beatUC - I just started Delzicol a week ago and it's working the exact same as Asacol so far. I was on Asacol since 2007. Delzicol is exactly the same except they took out the DBP and replaced it with another inactive ingredient.
Posted 6/3/2013 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
I'm gonna ask my gi about this I'm in her office right now. I am also on Asacol hd and this alarms me. I'm pregnant too so I hope this isn't true! I will post what I find out
Posted 6/3/2013 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
Is there an article or something to back this up? I swallowed a boat load of asocol when I had UC. I searched and didn't find anything that said it contained a toxic plastic hence why it was pulled.
Posted 6/3/2013 5:11 PM (GMT 0)
I am taking max dose of 6 per day of the 800 HD now to get over this flare. I was reading and didn't know that it is not recommended to take for longer than 6 weeks per the detailed instructions on their website. Can any of you tell me how much and how long you have taken it? I will be seeing my doc in 2 weeks to talk to him and will talk about other maintenance meds and options at that time. It sounds like I may be on this for a while. How do you all feel about the companies recomendation of 6 weeks max on the 800hd?

http://www.asacolhd.com/pdfs/AsacolHDPrescribingInfo.pdf

I guess my only other options would be delzicol or colazal since asacol 400 wont be avail in the states?

Thanks

Post Edited (twiggs) : 6/3/2013 11:14:00 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/3/2013 5:30 PM (GMT 0)
From my understanding, they say the 6-weeks thing because, as most pharmaceutical companies do, they rushed the trials to get the product to market. So in essence, they say 6-weeks only because they didn't study over a longer period of time because time = money. "Rushing trials" sounds dangerous, but really, Asacol HD is just regular Asacol in bigger pill form so the longer trial studies weren't really needed for the HD as regular Asacol was already well-established as safe for long-term use. Gotta love politics and corporate greed...
Posted 6/3/2013 10:14 PM (GMT 0)
Byebyeuc:
Every study I post here usually gets slammed, but here ya go:

www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/prescription-drugs-can-deliver-high-doses-of-phthalates
Posted 6/4/2013 3:26 AM (GMT 0)
I don't believe this is real, if Asacol has been on the market for more than 10 years, I'm sure someone would've noticed before and it would've been pulled a while ago. And if there is any kind of plastic I don't believe it's toxic or else people would've gotten sick and they would've eventually linked it back to Asacol.
Posted 6/4/2013 3:29 AM (GMT 0)
Asacol's been on the market since 1987 or 1988.

Nothing's been pulled in Canada...and there's generic version of it here as well. Why not in the US? anyone got any info on that?

q
Posted 6/4/2013 10:51 AM (GMT 0)
Here is the FDA's safety comment with respect to pregnancy.

www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/ucm215476.htm
Posted 6/4/2013 11:22 AM (GMT 0)
This Asacol thing is is the preliminary stages. The typical process is, someone has toxicity from the drug, it's identified by medical tests, then another, and another and so on.
The fact that there is information out there linking toxic plastic and toxicity in patients taking Asacol, then the drug is pulled from the market speaks volumes.
This situation will play out legally, which may take years before we know what the real deal is.
Yes, this whole thing may be linked to the patent running out, but if documented birth defects are found, the shark lawyers will tear into this company and reap millions while we Asacol users will end up with $20 (or less) each and a lifetime of tests for toxicity....
Gotta love our legal system.
Posted 6/4/2013 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
Why can't we have an oral mesalamine that is JUST MESALAMINE? Can't we use Apriso's delivery method without the aspartame and edible ink/crap? Like canasa or sfRowasa, please!
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