Generic Concerta is here!

[Anonymous]

It the same exact medication made by the same company and supplied to the distributor. Not one iota of difference.... Except in people's minds.

Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: WPI) today confirmed that its subsidiary, Watson Laboratories, Inc., has launched an authorized generic version of Concerta® (methylphenidate hydrochloride extended-release tablets) as part of an exclusive agreement with Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OMJPI). Watson began shipping the product today. Concerta is approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children ages 6 to 17 and in adults 18 to 65, as part of a total treatment program that may include counseling or other therapies.

Under the terms of the exclusive supply and distribution agreement, OMJPI manufactures and supplies Watson with all dosage strengths of the authorized generic product. Watson markets and distributes the product in the United States. OMJPI will receive a share of the net sales from Watson's sales of the product. The agreement runs until the end of 2014. During the term of the agreement, Watson may continue to pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) for a generic version of Concerta and may launch its own ANDA product at the conclusion of the exclusive supply agreement. Other terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

For the most recent twelve months ending February 28, 2011, Concerta had sales of approximately $1.5 billion, according to IMS Health data.

SOURCE Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

[Anonymous]

I'm an adult with ADHD that takes concerta. I've taken both the brand name and the generic and I see or feel no difference of the two, in fact the brand name and the generic pill look exactly alike with the alza imprint on it. This was taken from the watson website:

"Under the terms of the agreement, OMJPI will manufacture and exclusively supply Watson with all dosage strengths of the authorized generic product. Watson will market and distribute the product in the United States."

OMJPI is the manufacture of concerta.

[Anonymous]

As mentioned above it's the same exact medicine. Whenever people hear the word generic they automatically tell their brain that its no good and with your brains perception of that you'll get negative results.

[Anonymous]

I actually called the Janssen folks, who now own the pharmaceutical company that makes Concerta. It's NOT exactly the same...Watson is using a "biological equivalent" in their generic. Dosage can be the same, but the chemical make up of it is, in fact, DIFFERENT. I also asked if the delivery system was the same, and while it is, the words "biological equivalent" were stressed to me over the phone.

So, for the folks who are saying it is the exact same medicine, I say look again. It looks the same, and has the same 'dosage', but the chemical makeup of the compounds they are using are different, which is how they can sell them at a cheaper rate. Cheaper is not always necessarily better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually called the Janssen folks, who now own the pharmaceutical company that makes Concerta. It's NOT exactly the same...Watson is using a "biological equivalent" in their generic. Dosage can be the same, but the chemical make up of it is, in fact, DIFFERENT. I also asked if the delivery system was the same, and while it is, the words "biological equivalent" were stressed to me over the phone.

So, for the folks who are saying it is the exact same medicine, I say look again. It looks the same, and has the same 'dosage', but the chemical makeup of the compounds they are using are different, which is how they can sell them at a cheaper rate. Cheaper is not always necessarily better.

This is incorrect. I have received the "generic" form and what I got was the exact same pill that is labeled as brand. The markings on the pill were exactly the same. Brand Concerta is marked with the letters ALZA and the "generic" that I got I compared to one of my brand pills and it had the same exact markings. A true generic pill will be marked differently. Every pill has to have a distinguished mark so that it can be identified. The pills marked with ALZA is manufactured by Janssen and given to Watson for distrubution under the terms of a settlement agreement from a lawsuit. Depending on your insurance carrier, it isn't exactly cheaper either. When I went back for a refill, the "generic" under the Watson label cost $50 for me whereas the brand under the Janssen label is $35. If they were really using an equivalent chemical that was not exactly the same, Blue Cross/Blue Shield wouldn't have an issue with copay.

[Anonymous]

My son is 9 and has been on 36Mg Concerta ER for almost 2 years now. He had tried many other medicines before we found Concerta ER and nothing compared to the effectiveness of Concerta. I was paying $20 for Concerta ER with my insurance and then all of a sudden my insurance company unformulated Concerta and then my bill went up to $60. I hated paying more for the prescription, but because it was working so well for my son, I decided it was worth it.

Almost 30 days ago we refilled his Concerta ER and I paid $60 for it. Because of what I paid I assumed it was Concerta ER that we were getting. It was almost immediate that his moods began to swing from sadness to anger. His grades dropped at school. He has been getting notes home from school about bad behavior which was a very rare occurrence in the previous year. Just last week, I received a call from his principal that he didn't report to class until 9:30. I thought this was impossible since I dropped him off for school at 7:45. I found out that he started crying for no reason and felt so embarrassed that he hid in the bathroom trying to stop crying. He cried for an hour and 1/2 solid before he was able to gain control and he still can't tell me why he was crying. He just said that he couldn't control it.

Today, I was calling in his refill to his doctor's office and I looked at the bottle and noticed that his Concert ER had been substituted for the generic Methylphenidate ER. Again, I had no idea the pharmacy had done this because the pills looked exactly the same and the pharmacy charged me the same $60 that I had been paying previously. They didn't even tell me they were switching it. They just charged me for the prescription and let me go on my way.

There is no doubt in my mind that this change in my son is due to his prescription changing from brand Concerta ER to generic Methylphenidate ER. I am so frustrated because Concerta was working so well and this junk doesn't seem to be working at all. He has even started to complain about stomach cramps and I have read that that is one of the side effects of the generic. I will have to call his doctor and find out if anything can be done. I don't mind paying the money for something that works. But I refuse to pay the money for something that is doing more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

I literally read the post above with tears in my eyes since son is having the EXACT same reactions as described above. I knew there was something terribly wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it until I found this thread. People can say it's the same drug but I can tell you something is certianly wrong. My son has been on Concerta for almost two years and has been a straight A student. For the past four weeks his grades have been nose diving and he walks around like a zombie. That is a far cry from the son I know. Bottom line....If you think there is an issue with the generic version, there probably is.

[Anonymous]

MY Daughter seems to be very subdued and the very argumentative when it wears off. I think the time release is not the same.

[Anonymous]

Hello....i'm not trying to alarm people....But my daughter was on concerta 27mg ( low dose) it worked GREAT. I recently also have has an issue with the new generic.. 2 days after taking it...she told me that her heart fet like it was pounding. Yesterday at school she had a seizure. I don't want to say its the generic form......but he have been using CONCERTA brand for 3 months with no glitches.....and in 3 days on the generic...she had a seizure.

My ER doctor said that Seizures are not a side effect of Concerta......Yet EMT driver said that inthe past few months he has been to 4 calls with kids having seizures...all kids had in common was they were all ADHD...and recently changed their prescription. WEIRD HUH???

[Anonymous]

I need to join the military.

[Anonymous]

The generic is exactly the same. Watson was given the right to sell an authorized generic form due to a law suit. The original manufacturer actually SUPPLIES Watson with the medication and Watson packages it as a generic. Any differences you all are thinking you are experiencing are strictly in your mind. I see this all the time with consumers where I work. We package some of our product in different packages and some consumers will swear one is better than the other. They are exactly the same. The power of marketing is very strong.

[Anonymous]

My Daughter has been on Concerta for two years. She went from a failing student to a straight A student. She inspired me to finally get on medication and I have been for six months. When I switched to the generic I became irritable and noticed I would go from hyper to lethargic back to hyper during the day my administrative assistant and receptionist both kept asking me what was wrong. I was blaming it on other things until I switched my daughter to the generic. I did not tell her she was switching to a generic. She did not report the problems her teachers did! I was called to her school and shown papers with straight 100s in the morning straight F's in the early afternoons and straight 100s at the end of the day. They described her as crying and irritable for a few hours each afternoon and then returning to her normal self. My daughter is in a private accelerated school with a very low teacher to student ratio. They placed the start of the problem exactly on the first day she was on the generic. My wife and i are both highly educated medical professionals. We have not imagined these symptoms and my daughter and I are both switching back to the name brand. It has been suggested in other places that the problem may be with the manufacturing process in the formation of the pill changing the release rates and subsequent bio-availability of the drug. If this is the case it could be the exact same formulation and function differently in use. My suggestion is if you think there is a problem switch back and have your doctor or pharmacist report your symptoms. I have not seen any statement from the company that declares them both to be the same pills from the same assembly equipment. This may need a true double blind study to identify the problem.

[Anonymous]

I think I am one of the pp's who reported that the generic and name brand were the same price. We switched insurance companies and there was a huge price difference so the pharmacist said to try the generic. They said it is the exact same manufacturer and if they mixed up the pills, they wouldn't have any idea which ones were generic and which name brand. I haven't given my ds the generic yet -- start this weekend. Curious to know if the symptoms the pp's described went away once they returned to the name brand.

[Anonymous]

Fairly recently DX'd adult with ADHD. I'm about to try generic Concerta because I got tired of taking short-acting ritalin 3 times a day. We'll see how it goes...

[Anonymous]

According to all the press releases, in the US the generic is made by the mfr of the real drug. Not that it literally comes off the same assembly line, but that is implied. It looks like it came off the same assembly line to me.

I just compared a Concerta ER 36 next to the Methewhatever ER 36. They are the same shade of pure white. They have the same shape and size, the same dimple on the end. The alza lettering for the generic was slightly darker and centered perfectly; on the Concerta the lettering was lighter and offset towards the right of center.

I think these are the same pill made on the same line, or else a very clever counterfeit. Do you suppose that Concerta is deliberately sabotaging the generic that they make themselves?

Until 2014 supposedly generic Concerta in the US is actually Concerta, simply distributed by Watson and called a generic.

If you are in Canada, however, the pills are completely different. The Concerta copy in Canada is junk, a Ritalin ER ripoff with completely different time release profile. Should be illegal, IMO.

Even though my pharmacy (which is also my prescription provider) substituted generic for name brand, they still charged me the same $50 name brand co-pay. How is that fair???