Hi Zander, Methadose is the generic version made by Mellenkrodt of name brand Dolphine.
The smaller methadone tablets are Roxanne pharmas' version of generic Dolophine. Dolophine is just the name brand version of meth.
Personally I think there is a large difference in the quality and quantity of mallinkrodts product. However Mallinckrodt is also a manifacturer and wholesaler of opiates to all the other companies that make methadone. They re the only bulk methadone producer in the US of methadone, so even the name brand version "Dolophine" is purchased from mallinckrodt and formulated into the Dolophine diskettes that come in 20 and 40 mg wafers. The same wafers used at meth clinics that disolve rapidly in juice.
Although all meth comes from Mallinckrodt, the FDA still allows a degree of variation in the actual amount of medication in each pill. It's +10% or minus 15%. So any company formulating 10mg or 5mg tablets can use anywhere between 8.5 -11.0 mgs of actual active ingredient. Obviously methadose uses alot more fillers expalining the the pill being twice as large.
If you wife doesn't notice a difference, I wouldn't worry about it, But it's better to stick with one or the other, that way you don't have a variation from one month to the next.
My meth dose was high enough, 150mgs a day; that switching from the Roxanne smaller pills actually caused me to experince withdrawal. Instead of getting the 150 mgs a day I was supposed to I was getting closer to 128 mgs of meth.
The roxanne is getting harder and harder to find because Mellinckrodt makes the bulk raw material and will never have a problem with maintain the methadone on hand to formulate the plls. In the last 2 years it's become harder and harder to find the Roxanne version of methadone.
My brother worked for a large pharmcuetical company as quality control. ASfter experiencing withdrawal I sent him a tablet to analize, aside from a boat load of fillers it tested at 8.3 mgs of actual methadone in each tablet. If Roxane uses the high end of the scale you could have as mcu as a 25% difference in strength.
THe reason why pharmacist tell you there is no difference in one generic tothe other is because the profit margin on generics is so much higfher they are paid bonuses when their generic to name brand ratio of scripts filled reaches a certain point. Yes we save money on generics too, but the retailers are making twice as much money selling generics than they do Branded products. They are definitely not passing all the saving along to the customer. My wife was in the Pharmnacy retailer bizz so I know the bonus structer for generics that Revco, Eeeckerds and Rite aid use to encourage pharmacist to suggest and and fill generic versions of meds.
Docs and pharmacist pass along alot of misinformation.
I had one surgeon tell mne that you can only rwrite class 2 prescriptions in quantities no higher than 40 tablets on each script. IT was ahassle post surgically because someone had to drive 45 minutes, park n a paid garage to pick up a script every 5-6 days.
Why do they lie, I couldn't say, but it's not uncommon. He obviously felt that he would fly under the DEA radar by limiting C-2 scripts to 40 at a time where a script for 120 would drawa more attn. Obviously the 40 pill thing was a lie because while on meth would get scripts for 450 10 mg meth tabs a month.
Next tme a doc or pharmacist says generics are the same ask him if he would use generic heart medication or generic Imune supressors if they had a transplant. Docs won't write generics for these types of meds for their patients let alone a loved one. If generics are all equal, and they all hgave the same standards of variation allowed by the FDA, whatr makes that class of meds different from any other.
There are some good manufacturers of generics and some that will crape every penny and use the bottom of the allowable scale. When making methadose tablets by decreasing the amount by 15% they get an extra 15 tablets for every 100 they manufactur. Meth only costs pennies per kilogram to make, so if they will do this to make pennies, you can bet they will do it to make dollars.
There are also comapnies that make brand name and a genric version. Endo pharm for example makes name brand Percocet, they also make a genric line caled Endocet. Iin a situation where the same company mekes the generic tha makes the brand I wouldn't hesitate to use the generic product..
Recently Roxicodone, which was a brand product originated by Roxane, then sold to AAI pharma is now available in generic form. Mallinckrodt makes the 15mg and 30 mg tablest of pure oxycodone, In Mallinckrodts own full prescribing info, the same info the submit to the FDA and the PDR "physicians desk reference" it outright says each 30 mg tablet contains 27 mgs of oxycodone and each 15 mg tablet contains 13.5mgs of oxycodone. Why? because the FDA allows it and if it's allowed, Mallinckrodt will do it and make more pills out of the same Kilo of oxycodone. It's all about profit, not quality. Add extra filler and make the pill larger and it gives the impression your getting something better or more for you money, when it's the exact oposite.
There are peole that the variation in methadose and methadone are not noticesd, but the higher the dose, The greater the gap becomes.
It's not just my opinion, It''s the results of my brother doing a gas chromatic mass spectromitry "GCMS" on the pill I sent him and what you find while reading from the specific manufacturers web site in the full prescibing info on each pill.
Methadose is the only generic med I have ever had a problem with as far as quality, other than meth, I'll take a generic over a name brand because I have no script insurance. But both methadose by Mallinckrodt and methdone tablets by roxanne are generic. Neither is name brand. The only name brand version of meth is called Dolophine and manufactureed by Roxanne. The same manufacturer of the higher quality generic form. Just like the Endo example of Percocet.
If someone starts with methadose and sticks with methadose they will never know the difference in quality, Only in having used one and switching to the other would you notice. If your wifes dose is on the low side the variation may not be large enough to notice. Some people are aslo more sensitive in changes of meds, even the fillers used can cause reactions that another generic may not.
Good luck Dave
But knowing there are allowable differences is no secret, If I had a heart transplant I wouldn't risk my life with generics, people have died because of the inferior products and cardiologists and transplant docs know this. If variations are allowed in one class of medication, the same variations will be in another class of generics. So who ever told you there is no differnce is full of BS.
This is Mallinkrodts full prescibing info for their generic version of roxicodone 15mg and 30 mg, cut right from their own site in the fullprescibing info.
Oxycodone Hydrochloride
Tablets, USP
15 mg & 30 mg
Rx only
DESCRIPTIONOxycodone Hydrochloride Tablets, USP are an opioid analgesic.
Each tablet for oral administration contains 15 mg or 30 mg of oxycodone hydrochloride USP.
Oxycodone hydrochloride is a white, odorless crystalline powder derived from the opium alkaloid, thebaine. Oxycodone
hydrochloride dissolves in water (1 g in 6 to 7 mL) and is considered slightly soluble in alcohol (octanol water partition coefficient
is 0.7).
Chemically, oxycodone hydrochloride is 4, 5 α -epoxy-14-hydroxy-3-methoxy-17-methylmorphinan-6-one hydrochloride and
has the following structural formula:
"can't cut and paste picture of chemical structure"
The tablets contain the following inactive ingredients: microcrystalline cellulose; sodium starch glycolate; corn starch; lactose
monohydrate; stearic acid; D&C Yellow No. 10 (15 mg tablet); and FD&C Blue No. 2 (15 mg and 30 mg tablets).
The 15 mg and 30 mg tablets contain the equivalent of 13.5 mg and 27.0 mg, respectively, of oxycodone free base.
CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY
Methadone v Methadose
Linear Mode
