[Apollo]

I purchased 90 tablets of brand-name 60mg Cymbalta tablets from "Canada Drugs" in 2010 for about half the going USA rate.



**



I did notice, however, that the Cymbalta was manufactured in Turkey instead of Indiana, and the box was captioned in Turkish.

Should I be concerned about the quality or potency?

Thank you!

[mrsD]

Yes, it is probably generic.

It is questionable...
http://depression.emedtv.com/cymbalt...-cymbalta.html

There are so many pirated drugs... hard to know for sure.

Please don't get tempted into buying foreign products! It can be quite
dangerous.

[mrsD]

I'd like to mention also, about this subject:

I wonder if some of you are following the tainted heart drugs
in Pakistan?
http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-26/a...ood?_s=PM:ASIA

That is turning into a HUGE tragic mess! Gotta be very careful
about drugs these days!

New information has not been released that I have seen yet...I guess they are waiting for the toxic screening being don in other countries to determine what the poison actually is.

[Apollo]

Originally Posted by mrsD

Yes, it is probably generic.

It is questionable...
http://depression.emedtv.com/cymbalt...-cymbalta.html

There are so many pirated drugs... hard to know for sure.

Please don't get tempted into buying foreign products! It can be quite
dangerous.

... as a follow-up to my original post I contacted Lilly corporate headquarters, and found out that my Cymbalta produced in Turkey is fine, as Lilly officially manufacturers it there.

[mrsD]

Originally Posted by Apollo

... as a follow-up to my original post I contacted Lilly corporate headquarters, and found out that my Cymbalta produced in Turkey is fine, as Lilly officially manufacturers it there.

That is very interesting... So Lilly will be making the generic here most likely.

Lilly makes their drugs in Turkey... that is very very interesting!

Many brand name companies make the generic ultimately. Pfizer is one of the best known for doing this...thru Greenstone products.

Some companies make the raw chemical and sell it to generic houses, as well.

Cymbalta in US is a capsule, not a tablet.

Each capsule contains enteric-coated pellets of 22.4, 33.7, or 67.3 mg of duloxetine hydrochloride equivalent to 20, 30, or 60 mg of duloxetine, respectively. These enteric-coated pellets are designed to prevent degradation of the drug in the acidic environment of the stomach. Inactive ingredients include FD&C Blue No. 2, gelatin, hypromellose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose acetate succinate, sodium lauryl sulfate, sucrose, sugar spheres, talc, titanium dioxide, and triethyl citrate. The 20 and 60 mg capsules also contain iron oxide yellow.

from http://www.rxlist.com/cymbalta-drug.htm

Do your tablets say "enteric coated" ?

[Apollo]

Originally Posted by mrsD

That is very interesting... So Lilly will be making the generic here most likely.

Lilly makes their drugs in Turkey... that is very very interesting!

Many brand name companies make the generic ultimately. Pfizer is one of the best known for doing this...thru Greenstone products.

Some companies make the raw chemical and sell it to generic houses, as well.

Cymbalta in US is a capsule, not a tablet.

from http://www.rxlist.com/cymbalta-drug.htm

Do your tablets say "enteric coated" ?

... I don't have tablets but rather the standard capsules!

[mrsD]

Thanks for clearing that up.
Your first post said tablets.

I looked at Wiki.... you might want to read this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duloxetine

It contains this comment...

In 2001 Lilly filed a New Drug Application (NDA) for duloxetine with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, in 2003 the FDA "recommended this application as not approvable from the manufacturing and control standpoint" because of "significant cGMP (current Good Manufacturing Practice) violations at the finished product manufacturing facility" of Eli Lilly in Indianapolis.

So that might be why this drug is not made in Indiana.

This drug has several other names also, as listed on that Wiki article in the beginning. Many drugs today are manufactured out of the US. Puerto Rico is one location for example.

This article discusses drug manufacture outside the US.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-qpm090611.php

This article is alarming too:
http://www.tanplusforhealth.com/news/june/china.htm

Before I retired, there was a massive recall of Lipitor in the US,
with Pfizer claiming black market pirated identical looking tablets were being inserted into the wholesale pipeline. All patients at RiteAid on Lipitor were sent letters to return it to
the store for exchange!

http://www.pfizer.com/products/count...mportation.jsp
This article explains counterfeit drugs:

Even in countries generally considered "safe," such as Canada, the United States, and many of the European Union, counterfeit medicines have entered the legitimate supply chain, including counterfeit Lipitor®, Norvasc®, Viagra®, Zithromax®, and Celebrex®. During 2010, authorities from 53 countries seized almost 8.4 million tablets, capsules and vials of counterfeit Pfizer medicines. Many of the raids resulted from leads developed by Pfizer Global Security.

So one is not really safe even in the US anymore.
Contacting the company, like you did, Apollo, is a good idea.
I have to wonder why you are asking this now when you purchased them in 2010? Do you have left over, you intend to use? If so, check the expiration date. In the US most states require a one year max once the drug is purchased. Cymbalta has a sensitive content with enteric coated pellets... it may not store well exposed to heat and/or moisture.

I'd add here too, for others reading here. Physician samples are often short dated, and expire quickly. Some doctors do not look at them carefully before giving to patients, so always check the expiration date on SAMPLES.

[Apollo]

Originally Posted by mrsD

Thanks for clearing that up.
Your first post said tablets.

I looked at Wiki.... you might want to read this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duloxetine

It contains this comment...


So that might be why this drug is not made in Indiana.

This drug has several other names also, as listed on that Wiki article in the beginning. Many drugs today are manufactured out of the US. Puerto Rico is one location for example.

This article discusses drug manufacture outside the US.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-qpm090611.php

This article is alarming too:
http://www.tanplusforhealth.com/news/june/china.htm

Before I retired, there was a massive recall of Lipitor in the US,
with Pfizer claiming black market pirated identical looking tablets were being inserted into the wholesale pipeline. All patients at RiteAid on Lipitor were sent letters to return it to
the store for exchange!

http://www.pfizer.com/products/count...mportation.jsp
This article explains counterfeit drugs:


So one is not really safe even in the US anymore.
Contacting the company, like you did, Apollo, is a good idea.
I have to wonder why you are asking this now when you purchased them in 2010? Do you have left over, you intend to use? If so, check the expiration date. In the US most states require a one year max once the drug is purchased. Cymbalta has a sensitive content with enteric coated pellets... it may not store well exposed to heat and/or moisture.

I'd add here too, for others reading here. Physician samples are often short dated, and expire quickly. Some doctors do not look at them carefully before giving to patients, so always check the expiration date on SAMPLES.

.... the expiration date is March 2012

[mrsD]

Originally Posted by Apollo

.... the expiration date is March 2012

That is cutting it closely.... If your capsules are loose and not blister packed, they may not be fresh from 2010. No way to know however.

Blister packed products tend to keep better. Loose drugs in vials, are subject to moisture and light every time you open the vial. They are subject to heat and cold when shipped and stored in homes.
For this reason, most states now require pharmacies to put no more than 12 month expiration when dispensed to the patient (regardless of the true date on that stock package). So if you had purchased these here, technically safety cannot be assured.

I don't know how stable Cymbalta (or sensitive) is compared to other drugs. They all tend to vary....but the regulations lump them together for the various dispensing rules. So it would be up to you whether you choose to still use them now, or even shortly past the exp. date.

[daniella]

Apollo are you in the US? I ask because if you don't have health insurance that covers meds and are not working or make very little the company if your doctor writes an rx and fills out a form may give it to you for free. You should ask your doctor about this or other $ drugs. Just a thought.