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Different reactions from different suppliers of the same drug?

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Is it possible to have different reactions from different suppliers of drug? 

I was doing well for 3 months on Bristol-Myers Squibb tablets, but last month my pharmacist changed them to Zentiva, and I've been getting stomach cramps and diarrhoea. 

Is this normal, or down to the change of supplier? The drug is basically the same, though, isn't it, apart from the coating they use and things like that? Surely those would not be the cause?

Any thoughts appreciated -- thanks.

Hi Phil,

Zenvita dasatinib is licensed for ALL, not CML ... though of course it's the exact same drug and as I understand it some hospitals in the UK are giving it to CML patients.

The active ingredient - dasatinib - is the same in generic drugs. But the "excipients" (coatings, fillers) are usually different between generic manufacturers. One person on this forum found that macrogol, when used as a filler even in small amounts in generic imatinib, given them bad GI issues. So people can be quite sensitive to small changes.

Here are the non-active ingredients in Zenvita dasatinib:

Tablet core:

  • Lactose monohydrate (200)
  • Cellulose, microcrystalline (101 and 102)
  • Croscarmellose sodium
  • Hydroxypropylcellulose (MW 80,000)
  • Magnesium stearate

Film-coating:

  • Lactose monohydrate
  • Hypromellose (15 mPas)
  • Titanium dioxide (E171)
  • Triacetin

And here they are for the branded Sprycel:

Tablet core:

  • lactose monohydrate
  • microcrystalline cellulose
  • croscarmellose sodium
  • hydroxypropylcellulose
  • magnesium stearate

Film-coating:

  • hypromellose
  • titanium dioxide (E171)
  • macrogol 400

So without a complete interrogation of the quantities of each, the cores look very similar but the coatings not quit so similar.

All info taken from medicines.org.uk

David.

Thanks David. I'll check all that info out and raise it with my consultant.