On our trip to Bristol for Easter I was gobsmacked to learn that British pharmacists are not permitted to substitute a generic version for the medicine written on a prescription.
My oncologist had prescribed a brand name medicine the morning of our flight and I could not fill it at three pharmacies as none had it in stock. After arriving I called a number of pharmacies and found one in Bath that had the generic equivalent but would only dispense it against a prescription authorising the generic, not the brand name drug alone.
I managed to get one e-mailed and everything was fine.
Iām posting this only because I donāt think Iām the only person who are suprised by this. Particularly as the use of generics are being pushed so hard here.
Thatās interesting. I wonder if much money could be saved if the rule was changed to allow generics by default where paid for by the public health system?
Just a heads-up, American pharmacies are picky about foreign prescriptions, even Canadian ones. About three years ago, my hubby tried to fill a Norwegian script and a Swedish script in Kansas City (MO), but both were rejected. Hit up another spot, same story. He even tried another pharmacy in the other Kansas City, no dice. Eventually, my mom, a physician in Chicagoland area, had to write him a new prescription to ensure he could obtain his medication.
Interestingly, there is a pharmacy in Tysons Corner that was very cool with European prescriptions. This is likely due to the pharmacist being Swiss of Iranian descent and having completed pharmacological studies in Switzerland.
In my personal experience, Swiss pharmas have always accepted foreign prescriptions, including those from the US, Russia and Iran.
Are you sure itās not just for that medicine? I got the same answer in Switzerland saying that for some very specific medicine, there could be a difference and hence the prescription has to be for generic.
In the UK a prescription must always be for a generic version if itās an acceptable substitute. The assumption is that any specifically named drug is not substitutable by a generic. Itās not up to the pharmacist, in such cases, to judge whether a generic version is acceptable.
Thereās ābio-equivalentā which is the standard term, especially for some of the newer biological drugs, and testing for it is done even when moving to a new factory, or from prototype to production.
But generic versions of some meds may have different coatings, release timings, all sorts of things, so itās not just a case of āthe same compoundā, even if it is bio-equivalent.
Swiss apothekeās accept foreign prescriptions and surprisingly, insurance companies accept some treatments/health assessments from abroad too - I have that in good knowledge from a friend. (especially because theyāre much cheaper than here so it does make sense) All in all, I would say the Swiss are MUCH more flexible than other folks, much more!!!
Edit: with a caveat though, we might talk only about EU countries, donāt know if from everywhere.(in this regard you do feel like belonging to a select clubā¦sometimes ;))
In the UK, some supermarkets have pharmacies which are open evenings and weekends so you can pick up your prescription when you do the shopping with the added bonus that non-prescription medicines are in the supermarket aisles so you donāt have to spend ten minutes explaining to a pharmacist why you want some ibuprofen for a fever whilst they try and convince you to buy some homeopathic nonsense.
No pharmacist tried to convince me to buy homeopathic nonsense when I wanted to buy ibuprofen or paracetamol; However, they kindly offered the non-brand products so I started to wonder if I lookā¦poor! . It is a minor discomfort though. They try to explain you how to use it and it makes me giggle every single time. (maybe they think we have never usedā¦medicines? lol)
I agree the hours of pharmacies and availability of over the counter medicines is a pita though.
Me neither but the do always offer the non brand product to everyone which I think is a good thing.
I donāt think the homeopathic nonsense is quite as prevalent in the french speaking part thankfully.
Yes, I do appreciate the generic products for the paracetamol based medicines; it is not exactly the same for ibuprofen. (I take less of those to none - lately).
About the homeopathic nonsenseā¦well, I do have a herbal tea for every possible ailment starting from stomach ache to coldsā¦so who am I to criticise this stuff??
There are some merits to herbal remedies, the Sinupret tablets work quite well for cleaning sinuses for example.
Homeopathy is s different thing entirely and has no merits whatsoever in my opinion
What have you found to be different about generic ibuprofen?
Iāve used many different ābrandsā over the years, some of which, sourced mail order within the EU, is uncoated so more difficult to swallow ( mostly have always tried to get the Walgreenās bottles of 1000 on trips to the US, or asking colleagues to bring some back) but in terms of efficacy are exactly the same.
. It is a minor discomfort though. They try to explain you how to use it and it makes me giggle every single time. (maybe they think we have never usedā¦medicines? lol)