New brand of medicine like ‘poison’
Pharmac’s switch to a generic antidepressant brand is causing concern as more Kiwi depression sufferers warn the change may be doing more harm than good.
Following the death of her husband in 2008, Christchurch woman Marise Jose, 54, began taking venlafaxine medication Efexor XR to treat her depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
She was told by her pharmacist in September that she would now have to pay for the medication as Pharmac had switched its funding to a generic brand.
Jose tried the new funded medication, Enlafax, three times, but experienced rashes, suicidal thoughts, paranoia, mood swings and severe stomach pains.
‘‘This [generic] stuff is poison. It’s not the same. We’re being used as guinea pigs,’’ she said.
The formerly funded venlafaxine brands – ArrowVenlafaxine XR and Efexor XR – were changed to Enlafax by Pharmac in April last year. Enlafax became the country’s only funded brand of venlafaxine in September. The original venlafaxine brands are still available in pharmacies at the retail price.
Jose, who is on the invalid’s benefit, returned to the original medication. She receives Work and Income support to purchase it but still struggles to pull together the $30 a month needed and is cutting her dosage.
‘‘[Efexor XR] wasn’t a cure but it did help a lot,’’ she said.
An online petition fighting to bring back Efexor has gained nearly 5000 signatures.
Pharmac and Medsafe agreed the brand switch was safe for the 45,000 people prescribed venlafaxine each year, Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt said.
The government drug-funding agency saved $5 million a year by switching to the generic brand, she said.
‘‘We understand change issues are real for people. Pharmac will be guided and take any action determined appropriate by Medsafe.’’
More than 150,000 publiclyfunded prescriptions for venlafaxine were dispensed at community pharmacies nationwide in 2016, Medsafe manager Chris James said.
’’It is expected approximately 1 per cent of patients will experience problems with a brand switch,’’ he said.
James said it was expected some people would have side effects, but Medsafe had not identified issues with the quality of Enlafax and neither had medicine regulators in other countries.
For a generic medicine to be distributed in New Zealand, it must contain the same active ingredient released in the same way as the originator brand – Efexor, in this case.
Medsafe acting group manager Alison Cossar said both Enlafax XR and Arrow-Venlafaxine contained the same active substance (venlafaxine), in the same salt form (as hydrochloride) and amount as the original brand.
Sara Smith, who did want her real name published, spent six months taking Enlafax after the original brand – which she had used for 15 years – stopped being funded. She said she experienced severe mood swings, stomach pains and suicidal thoughts, and swore she would never try it again.
However, during her recovery from quadruple bypass surgery after a heart attack, she was put back on Enlafax while in hospital.
‘‘Within two days I started to feel really, really horrible, I was really struggling. I felt like I was going mad actually.’’
She pleaded with her doctors and was prescribed ArrowVenlafaxine again.
Christchurch-based Sigjaw Trust consumer advocate Gary Watts said about 25 of his 150 clients around New Zealand had reached out to him for support after experiencing adverse side effects following the brand change.
‘‘Venlafaxine generic drug change is causing massive problems throughout the whole country, it’s quite widespread,’’ he said.