generic fillers

Hi. I am allergic to all generics... but then, I'm allergic to most medications. Is there any way to find out if there are say, 2 or 3 common fillers the pharmaceutical companies use? I have tried a compounding pharmacist, but the manager wouldn't allow him the time to help me. Drug allergies are tough enough, but then when ER room doctors don't understand them, it's worse.. and being able to take a brand name but not a generic makes them thnk it's all psychological. Tks

SBK - Depending where you live, pharmacists have a standard reference book that they consult which contains all of the monographs of all of the medications that are available by prescription, in that country. In Canada it is called the CPS (Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties); in the United States it is the PDR (Physicians Desk Reference); and in the United Kingdom it is (I think) the BNF (British National Formulary). Every pharmacy should, by law, carry a recent (ie. yearly) version of these. Most Canadian pharmacies also have several other texts that contain ingredients found in over-the-counter (OTC or non-prescription) drugs as well.

I really can't comment on the contents of these texts, other than the CPS, as I am a Canadian pharmacist. Every monograph (ie. drug profile) in the CPS lists all of the nonmedicinal (ie. inactive/inert) ingredients (NMIs) found along with the active chemical in each medication's different forms, be they tablets, capsules, suppositories, creams/ointments, inhalers, and liquids.

NMIs include diluents, binders, lubricants, buffers, antioxidants, fillers, preservatives, flavours, colouring agents, and sweeteners. Relatively recently (I'm old, so let's say within the past 5 years) Canadian law has required pharmaceutical manufacturers to declare all NMIs on the labels of their prescription products. I am not sure if this is required in all countries, though. I would assume that the "sue-happy" U.S. would have similar regulations (just don't get me started on U.S. lawyers! .... grumble, fume .... although I am in no mood to comment on them at present).

There is a special section at the front of the CPS (the mauve pages) that contains lists of medications containing the most common allergy-causing NMIs, as well as pharmaceutical companies that exclude these NMIs from all their products (ah, whatever happened to Red Dye #21?). The NMIs listed in this section of the CPS are medications that incorporate ethanol, gluten, lactose, sulfites, and tartrazine.

As a caveat the CPS does state that these lists are not extensive as some raw materials used in the manufacturing process are obtained from sources other than the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, there could be traces of some of the above listed NMIs.

Generic companies, in order to reduce production costs, will use cheaper NMIs than brand name companies, but, at least in Canada, these NMIs cannot affect the absorption of the active ingredients from the the medication. Though, in the case of a few available generic medications, I have my doubts that this is always the case (I cannot name names; the lawyer thing .... again).

Again, I have no idea what the policy is with regard to NMIs in generics is in countries other than Canada. In Canada, we have been regularily using generic formulations for over a decade. In the beginning there were many horror stories (eg. tablets not dissolving, life-threatening allergic reactions, potency problems, etc.), but now goverment legislation demands that every lot of a generic formulation have the same potency (within 5%) as it's brand name alternative. Also, testing is done to assure that the pharmacokinetics (ie. the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) of ALL medications is standardized from company to company.

I do believe that contains a list of NMIs at the end of their drug monographs, and I think that the site is American. Just click on the coloured link in the last sentence and look up the name of a medication. Also, not to play favorites with websites, you can try <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.rxlist.com/>Rx List.

I hope that this is of some help. - Cam