Adderall Patent Expiration, Dextroamphetamine, Generic Competition, Amphetamine, Amphetamines
A brief note about "Adderall": this is the trade name of an amphetamines product. It consists of four different amphetamines, such as amphetamine sulfate and amphetamine lactate. However, the "sulfate" and the "lactate" parts are NOT important. The only thing that is important is AMPHETAMINE, regardless of which form. 100% of the effects of Adderall are because of its content of amphetamine, NOT the specific forms of the amphetamine (called, chemically, "salts"). You can get the same effects from generic amphetamine (typically dextroamphetamine sulfate) as from Adderall. The company that makes it claims that Adderall works quicker and lasts longer, but this is mostly bullshit. It is really not significant, and in fact plain old generic dextroamphetamine is generally considered superior to the other forms, including the forms in Adderall. (See the en.wikipedia.org writeup on Adderall for details.) ... more »
A brief note about "Adderall": this is the trade name of an amphetamines product. It consists of four different amphetamines, such as amphetamine sulfate and amphetamine lactate. However, the "sulfate" and the "lactate" parts are NOT important. The only thing that is important is AMPHETAMINE, regardless of which form. 100% of the effects of Adderall are because of its content of amphetamine, NOT the specific forms of the amphetamine (called, chemically, "salts"). You can get the same effects from generic amphetamine (typically dextroamphetamine sulfate) as from Adderall. The company that makes it claims that Adderall works quicker and lasts longer, but this is mostly bullshit. It is really not significant, and in fact plain old generic dextroamphetamine is generally considered superior to the other forms, including the forms in Adderall. (See the en.wikipedia.org writeup on Adderall for details.)
Incidentally, the Adderall company, facing patent expiration on Adderall and thus more generic competition, is now heavily pushing its new "Vyvanse" -- another amphetamine product with very dubious if any advantages, and indeed probably MORE side effects than Adderall or other amphetamines, and, of course, a much higher price. More pharmaceutical company bullshit! Don't buy it.
Anyway, to return to the main point: Adderall or generic amphetamine makes no difference, except this one big one: The PRICE! Adderall is ridiculously expensive -- typically $1-4 per pill, sometimes even more. This is a total ripoff, since amphetamine is a CHEAP old drug, and the actual cost of 10 or 20 or 30 mgs of it (as in one typical tablet) is negligible, well under a penny. In other words, they ought to sell for, say, $10 or $15 per hundred -- enough to cover the cost of the drug itself (perhaps 10 cents or so) plus all the costs of tableting, bottling, distribution and so forth, with room for the pharmacy's markup. The idea of paying $100 or $200 or even $400 for a dime worth of a cheap old drug is outrageous -- but it happens. It is the greed of the pharmaceutical company combined with the greed of the individual pharmacist that causes this. Pharmacies vary a great deal in pricing, but the producing company also grossly overcharges.
Bottom line: INSIST ON THE GENERIC. Even if insurance covers it and you only have a $5 co-pay. Why? Because the health care system of the U.S. is driving the country bankrupt, and super-high drug costs is one of the reasons. This is one way you can make a contribution, however small, to solving the problem of a medical-academic-industrial-pharmaceutical complex that costs the U.S. well over $2 trillion per year (far larger than the military-industrial complex, and far more per capita than any other developed country). Part of the problem is prescriptions that cost $300 for 50-cents worth of a drug. Be part of the solution.
End of rant. Be well!
