Asacol - Delzicol switch

Please let us know when you are done with the article so we can read it. Many of us here are extremely interested in this subject. I switched from Asacol to Asacol HD and am curious as to why Asacol was discontinued due to some "toxic plastic" in the coating while Asacol HD, which appears to be identical but double the dose, is still available. Most all of us here believe there is some funny business going on due to the patent expiring and if this has anything to do with generics for Asacol maybe not becoming available. It sure seems suspicious that Delzicol seems to be nothing more than the same ole Asacol pill, "toxic plastic" and all, merely put inside of a capsule. If all this is a sham to stop generic Asacol from being produced I hope that it has broken some laws and something can be done about it. Thanks for looking into this.

I'm not in possession of the FDA paperwork or anything but my Dr suggested a move to Delzicol once I could no longer find Asacol. I have been on Asacol for 11yrs and have been in remission for essentially 10yrs. So, I was panicked when I found out that Asacol was leaving.

The best I can figure is that the patent on Asacol expires this month (July 2013) and Asacol HD was not the hit they wanted. I tried it and it was like I was on a lower dosage of my Asacol and I had a higher rate of seeing the full pills in my stool. After about 3 weeks my GI put me back on regular Asacol.

Let me tell you, the Delzicol pill is incredibly hard to swallow. The capsule part just sticks to anything with moisture. I don't have trouble swallowing horsepills so this was crazy! One night it stuck in my throat and I figured that my multivitamin would dislodge it. Nope, it stopped the multivitamin from going down. I have a few reasons to be annoyed, but I'll just leave that for another time (timing of the multivitamin against meds I take in the morning so they don't mix, etc). I called my Dr and they seemed surprised. Our answer was to just pop that pill out of the capsule and take it like that.

Fortunately for my budget, these were samples because by the end of the 2 weeks I could tell that I was going to have the same problems with the Delzicol as I had with the Asacol HD. I wrote the company and the FDA and told my Dr that I wanted nothing to do with any more Warner Chilcott medications.

I, too, believe that this is just a ploy to retain a patent hold and prevent a generic from hitting the market. After paying high prices for my Asacol for more than 10yrs (when you get remission after being sick for so long - 6yrs before I got properly diagnosed - you stay true to those meds and do whatever it takes to stay in remission) I am absolutely disgusted to think that they would play games like this just to keep a patant. I put the Delzicol tablet next to one of my remaining Asacol tablet and it look exactly the same without the printing on it. I believe we've been duped!

I second the request that you share your story with us. I'm not in the northwest and my experience was only for a few weeks with both the Asacol HD and the Delzicol. However, you have my permission to share what I've told you. Not much, I know.

Thanks Health Reporter -- let's hope this gets national news. I had to switch from Asacol to Pentasa and although there were no problems from the switch on my colon -- my wallet is a different story.

Hmmm My GI doc said Delzicol is the same as Asacol and that they did the switch to block a generic Asacol. I am seriously depressed about that. I am SO MAD at Warner Chilcott!!!!!!