Author: jonathanm1978
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:27 am
They have been working on this one for a bit, it’s been fast-tracked from coming out next year (Q1 2014) to coming out September..
I think the FDA approved it on July 3 or so, and we’ll see it on pharm shelves around Sept..
Close friend of mine runs a drug store. I asked about the current "generics"….because I’m curious of the cost. We’re still in the exclusivity rights of the two that are available, so the price is likely high for both, but she told me definitely the Amneal version is $100 higher than what my script of 90 Suboxone films costs. The person/patient wouldn’t pick up that extra $100, because it’s considered a generic still…so you would have your copay for a generic drug, but the insurance would have the burden of that extra cost. These came out in March, (Amneal and Actavis), so we have until October or so, by what she said, before we should see price dropping on them to be in-line with other generics.
From September forward 6 months the Zubsolv will have exclusivity rights (they can charge what they want), then the price will come down and we should see if this hurts Reckitt’s price or not…if you suddenly go pick up your Suboxone films in February 2014 and they are only ~$200..you’ll know these generic options are hitting their pocketbooks.
There’s also another coming in January 2014…so by next year, there will be 2 generic forms of Naloxone + Buprenorphine available, IF & ONLY IF you can convince a doctor to check the box for generic allowed. If they doc’s office doesn’t have a Reckitt rep stuck up their bunghole, they will probably be willing to allow their patients to select generics. I’d like to see both the Reckitt version have a dramatic price-drop, plus the option to pick generic if I want. I’d personally like to try a 60-Reckitt + 30-Zubsolve script and see how it works for me..maybe using the Zubsolve for the first 10 days or whatever…