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Patents on Asacol expire on July 31, 2013. Do the math.

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 6/5/2013 8:26 AM (GMT 0)
www.fdalawblog.net/fda_law_blog_hyman_phelps/2011/04/nj-district-court-punts-in-asacol-dj-action-to-trigger-180-day-exclusivity-forfeiture-rules-that-sub.html

Found this, but there are other links out there.

Warner Chilcott holds the expiring patent on Asacol as well as the freshly minted patent on Delzicol.

This isn't some big conspiracy. This is Big Pharma, pure and simple. Besides, there's no need to conspire when you can do it all right there in front of everyone.
Posted 6/5/2013 4:36 PM (GMT 0)
New to this link. I have been reading the posts about Asacol being discontinued. Am concerned because I cannot get info from insurance on cost. Are there other options besides Delzicol?

Lois
Age 65
Ulcerative Colitis diagnosed 2002
400 mg Asacol 3x day
400 mg Sulfasalazine 4x day
Alergic to prednizone
Posted 6/5/2013 4:52 PM (GMT 0)
Noah, I am considering getting the generic fom Canada also for asacol 800 which would save me bundles. I could save a good amount even if I got the brand form Canada. How does your doctor feel about you using a generic from Canada? I use BigMountain now for my (canasa) Salofalk and save alot with that. My Salofalk works fine but am genuinly concerned with how my doc would feel about getting a generic asacol from Canada and its quality.
Posted 6/5/2013 7:22 PM (GMT 0)
clovisgal: I was taking two 400mgs pills of Asacol 3 times per day and when the Asacol ran out my doctor switched me over to one 800mg Asacol HD pill, 3 times per day. This just happened recently and haven't noticed any difference from what I was doing.
Posted 6/5/2013 8:01 PM (GMT 0)
Asacol HD says it's not the same as Asacol, but I never noticed a difference.

I don't know all that much about patent law, but from what I know, discontinuing Asacol and making Delzicol shouldn't stop other companies from making generic Asacol. Again, I'm not 100%, but I would have guessed that once the patent runs out, generics are fair game.
Posted 6/5/2013 8:09 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, other companies can make Asacol once the patent runs out. Except that it obviously won't be called Asacol.
Posted 6/6/2013 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
twiggs,

I actually have not yet told my doc that I buy from Canada, but with the demise of Asacol I may get forced into it.

My wife had been making me the "bad guy" in order to get paper prescriptions from her doc. "I don't know what that idiot does. He just tells me to tell you that we need to send a paper prescription to the pharmacy. Something about they require the original paper prescription be mailed in."

I had been getting by with just asking for paper, but now that I will need to specifically ask for Asacol, it might come to something like this.

Me: So I will need a new prescription for Asacol.
Doc: It's discontinued. You'll need to get Delzicol.
Me: Yeah, I know, but I'll need a script for Asacol. It's cheaper.
Doc: But I said it's discontinued. Where are you going to get it from?
Me: Well, you see, there's this pharmacy, eh, that can get it for me, eh. It's a little to the north, eh. Nice folks, eh. Even have generic, eh.

Hopefully, the doc is at least mildly entertained by my Canadian accent stereotype that he doesn't dig too deep. If he does, I'm prepared.

I buy from Big Mountain as well. Found them on pharmacychecker.com and confirmed they were legit through Canadian authorities at napra.org (National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities), and I've been on Canadian generic Asacol since either late 2010 or early 2011, and I ain't dead yet.

This is one of my longer rants about buying from Canada.
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2169778
Posted 6/6/2013 2:00 AM (GMT 0)
fruitgirl,

Not necessarily. AZ developed Prilosec, but once the patent ran they pimped Nexium. P&G still makes Prilosec, at least the OTC version, but yeah everyone and their Momma who makes generics calls it omeprazole.
Posted 6/6/2013 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Just ask for Asacol HD 800mg, that's what I did with BigMountain Drugs with no issue. And I just told my doctor that I send my prescriptions into a mail-order pharmacy to get a discounted cost and need the original prescription to send them. A lot of insurance companies offer mail-in prescription discounts so they didn't give me a hard time. When they asked which pharmacy I knew it was just in case I wanted them to send it directly to them, I told them that my husband handles all the paperwork and that I had no idea. Got my paper and got my cheap meds!
Posted 6/6/2013 2:34 AM (GMT 0)
Noah_Bodie, it wouldn't be called Asacol anymore, but it would be a 400mg mesalamine tablet that would be the same drug formulation as Asacol. I hope that the Walgreens' version is called "Walacol" or "Walamine" because that would be hilarious.
Posted 6/6/2013 3:17 AM (GMT 0)
I hope there is a $4 generic available when the patent runs out. The problem is that not many people desire the 400mg pills these days. The ER ones are so much more convenient. Why take 12 pills when you can take 4? I guess if it were $4, that would be a great reason :)
Posted 6/6/2013 4:38 AM (GMT 0)
Assocall
Asacol OTC (Over The Colon)
Asabart (Bartell's generic)
Safecol (Safeway generic)
Asabuck (when Starbuck's open a pharmacy counter)
Posted 6/6/2013 2:19 PM (GMT 0)
Noah,

The accent is great and I will have to use that approach when and if I go that route with my doc. Please let me know if and when you do ask him what he says and how it turns out. Thats great to hear about the generic working for you which will help me decide what I do when the time comes. I have over a months supply now but will see what the doc wants me to do then will go from there.

Thanks buddy
Posted 6/6/2013 5:00 PM (GMT 0)
I'm wondering if there will actually be a generic form of Asacol in the US. I'm not sure how it all works. Since Asacol supposedly has DBP in it, and it has been discontinued, then wouldn't a generic have to be made using the exact same ingredients as Asacol, otherwise it really wouldn't be Asacol anymore? And since the Asacol is discontinued due to the FDA then does that mean that nobody can legally make a real generic Asacol, therefore our only recourse would be to buy Asacol HD, which has not been discontinued, or Delzicol - both of which just happen to be made by the same company who made regular Asacol and both of which don't have expiring patents?
Posted 6/6/2013 5:16 PM (GMT 0)
I was under the impression that the pharmaceutical company was discontinuing it, but NOT because the FDA had told them to.
Posted 6/6/2013 5:28 PM (GMT 0)
I could be wrong on that but I thought I remember reading something about the FDA. Even if the FDA had nothing to do with it and the company decided on their own to discontinue it due to the DBP then why would another company want to manufacture something that another company had discontinued due to potential health risks and lawsuits?
Posted 6/6/2013 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
Noah_Bodie,
I don't understand what is your doc's problem? How does it affect him where you buy your meds from? I told my GI right away that my insurance is changed and now I can not afford to get the meds in this country so either change my medications so that I can buy it here or get me whatever it needs and I will get it from Canada.

It turns out, she also buys her medications from Canada and she was more than happy to give me 2 paper prescriptions :)

You could always get a prescription for generic mesalamine tablet, right? or thats not allowed here?


With discontinuation of Asacol,
Official statement says that they noticed some allergic reaction to one of the ingredients and so they had to change the formulation, hence now we have Delzicol or whatever that is.
I don't know how much truth is in there.
Posted 6/6/2013 11:57 PM (GMT 0)
No generic mesalamine tablet equivalent of Asacol in the US. No one can make one till the patent runs out. The question seems to be whether or not other companies can make a generic if the original medication was discontinued by the original manufacturer.
Posted 6/7/2013 6:29 AM (GMT 0)
deltaforce,

I've never told my doc, and I wanted to keep it that way. Plausible deniability for the MD. "Officer, I had no idea that my patient was buying meds from Canada." Yeah, OK, it might be a stretch, but OTOH one might encounter an extremely indignant and pious attitude from the doc. "You really should not be buying your meds from Canada. It's illegal!" Also a stretch, but those are the two scenarios I'd like to avoid. As such, I've stuck with the passive aggressive approach, until now.
Posted 6/7/2013 6:41 AM (GMT 0)
Clearly we need a new pharm company to make some better oral 5asas! Cmon! It should be easy! No research required!
Posted 6/8/2013 1:04 AM (GMT 0)
fightUC,

WC will tell you they have in Delzicol. Of course, better is in the eye of the beholder.
Posted 6/8/2013 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
I have made the switch to Asacol HD and I'd have to say that it might be working slightly better than regular Asacol.
Posted 6/9/2013 1:22 PM (GMT 0)

fightUC said...
Clearly we need a new pharm company to make some better oral 5asas! Cmon! It should be easy! No research required!


No it is not as easy as you may think. I am not very clear on the properties of 5-ASA but some drugs are pretty difficult to put into the dosage forms like tablets, hence they go capsule way.
And as the population becomes heterogeneous, it will pose more and more challenge.
Posted 10/29/2013 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Here in the US, I am ever becoming more disenchanted with our healthcare. The pharmaceutical and insurance company greed is overwhelming the country. The prevention of generic Asacol release is just one of the MANY examples of how this greed is rampant. Now with Obama-care insurance companies are limiting the doctors under their plans and have always prohibited certain medical treatments and medications. Insurance companies are pulling the strings when it comes to how doctors treat patients. Gee, aren't insurance companies in business to make profits? And mitigating risks is how they increase their profits so the only way they can mitigate their risk in health insurance is to insure less of the sick. So why do we have insurance in the first place? To pay for routine care (that insurance companies can predict?) or to cover an occasional emergency or surgery (also, somewhat predictable) but what about the chronically ill? Those with UC (or other autoimmune disorders) where do we fall? We are those that the insurance companies don't want to cover so they are working hard to find ways to keep us from their coverages... and drug companies are also in business for profit, look for ways to make more money from the chronically ill as they've done with Asacol... infuriating...
I'm hoping my doctor will allow me the opportunity to try generic Asacol thru Canadian pharmacy... but without his support I'm forced to pay through the nose. I can only assume these pharmaceutical companies perk doctors to write prescriptions for their new drugs (as the securities industry use to do to stock brokers). Since we chronically ill were born with 'bad' genes we suffer not only from our illnesses but financially as well. You'd think the country could come up with some means to help the weak and sick but those in the top 1% (of our nation's inequality of wealth) are too greedy to REALLY donate to causes and our government is too corrupt to make them. mad
Posted 10/29/2013 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
Switch to generic colazal if you can. With one of the free discount drug cards like the one from Good RX, Colazal is around $84(270 caps)month at all the large drug chains. Cash price without insurance. That's $41 less than my copay for any of the others. My insurance claims they pay $660/month for my colazal so I feel good about the $30 copay. Believe them, NOT.

What is really insane is that Colazal went generic early. Reason? It wasn't selling well and they felt the cash they could get from generic drug makers(selling them authorized generic "rights") and the increased volume selling both the name brand and their authorized generic version. A crazy legal twist that might have helped us.

You can check prices here:
http://www.goodrx.com/
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