Last night I got the latest refill of my oxycodone. I go to a small, neighborhood pharmacy where the druggists know me and are very familiar with my conditions and other prescriptions.

Anyway, the pharmacist told me that the script for 60 tabs was filled with 57 generic oxycodone and 3 Oxycontin (all at generic price) because that is the end of his oxycodone supply. He said that at one time there were three companies making the generic and eventually two all gave it up for various reasons. The last generic company was just purchased by Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin. He claims that the name brand Oxycontin will be the only one available from now on, because Perdue Pharma is dropping the generic for obvious reasons.

I have had the Oxycontin in the past, and it is EXPEN$IVE!

Has anyone else heard this?

Mike

Hey Mike,
First of all thankyou for sharing this info with me as i too am on oxy for my RSD pain. I have not heard of this but it does not suprise me ! The drug companies are constantly wanting more and more $$ . I will be asking about this next time i pick up my refills. Thanks again for sharing !

Kimberly

A clarification is in order here. The title of the thread is correct, but the initial post may be confusing.

I checked with my pharmacist this morning. What is going off the market is the generic version of Oxycontin, but that was a timed release medication, as opposed to the fast acting (and relatively short-lived) oxycodone, which remains on the market.

(another) Mike

Thanks Mike,
Just as an FYI I was referring to Oxycontin and knew that this was what the original email was referring to. I am so upset by this. It is my regular medication.I dont know how their allowed to drop the generic and monopolize the market this way. It seems that it should against the law.

I clearly don't have any knowledge of the application of anti-trust law in this area.

That said, it's my sense that Purdue Pharm. may be a corporate sponsor of such for the RSDSA. And just maybe this should be brought to the attention of their executive director.

Mike

Correct. I am sorry I was not clear enough. Looking at the "generic" prescription bottle, it is really marked OXYCODONE ER which, as you said, is a timed-release tablet. It is so common for people (including doctors) to use the terms interchangeably. I guess I also fell into that bad habit.

Thanks for the clarification.

Mike