Generic Lialda then back to regular Lialda

Shire now has a licensed-generic of lialda with the same pill code (S476) as lialda, and it is likely identical. Some insurance policies call licensed-generics a true generic, while others call them brandnames. Does it actually say lialda on the bottle?

Yes, and I'm trying to figure out what's going on.

I had already been in a long email chain with my emplyer about why I'm required to buy maintenance prescriptions through Expressscripts (where they invoice $1200/180pills) when I could buy them through GoodRX for $470/180pills). They basically told me "yeah that stinks, deal with it."


Well, I just refilled, and without asking me, they put a notice saying

Somebody said...
Because your doctor allows it, we will exchange your generic drug, MESALAMINE DR TABS, for its brand name version, Lialda Tabs, for this order, at no extra charge to you.

Well, no extra charge to me still means they're ripping off my employer. I even asked a pharmacist friend who said they would sometimes do this if there's a shortage of the generic, but that she saw no shortage reported.

I complained to my employer, who told me they checked with Expressscripts who told them they had negotiated a better price on the brand name than the generic!

. . . But then when the order came, the invoice showed they invoiced my employer MORE($1526.62/180pills) for the name brand than they had been for the generic! So Expressscripts is lying to either me or my employer.

I have no idea what's going on, and my employer hasn't gotten back to me. Prescription drug prices in the US is a huge racket and this ought to be criminal.