vyvanse got filled as generic

[Willowbee37]

I’m annoyed. My son has always been on brand name vyvanse. I picked it up today and it was generic. The pharmacy didn’t tell me. I’ve heard from about everyone on vyvanse that there’s a difference and my son is super sensitive to meds. He’s been doing well on vyvanse I don’t even wanna try it. Is it worth calling his doc about to have it changed? Not even sure insurance will cover the switch now.

[Crescentmoon4]

This happened with my son this past week with concerta. I had it changed back to brand. My son was so off on the generic. I also told pharmacy to tell dr to mark it with " no substitute" so he now always gets brand.

[lenkebra in reply to Crescentmoon4]

This is unfortunately a very common problem. One, unless the doctor explicitly indicates on the prescription "brand only", then the pharmacy will tend to default to a generic version. Two, with brand named medication it doesn't matter, but with some generic medication, the manufacturer makes a huge difference. Some pharmacists will say, 'oh, it's all the same', but it's not. With my son for example, a generic medication only worked with a certain manufacturer & that's it. When given by another manufacturer, it was like giving him nothing and it showed. This has happened several occasions during his adhd journey. Thirdly, with certain brand name medications, some if not all insurance companies will indicate that you have to try to utilize generic first and show that it doesn't work before they will cover the brand named medication. Yes, another example of an insurance company playing "doctor" and with people's lives.

In the end and as you know, at least with a brand named medication you know exactly what you are getting as opposed to the alternative. This journey is already beyond hard enough without these scenarios being in the mix.

[LisethHIS]

Hi, Willowbee37,

Thank you for contacting CHADD National Resource Center on ADHD. First, call your insurance to check if the brand is covered. If it is, his doctor can rewrite the prescription with a note to dispense only the brand. If the brand isn’t covered, you can try it, but be sure to note any changes you notice. Follow up with his doctor to document those changes. The doctor can also do a pre-authorization and submit the necessary medical documentation. chadd.org/attention-article...

If there is anything else, please let me know.

Liseth

Health Information Specialist

CHADD's National Resource Center on ADHD

chadd.org

[4travelers]

I had a conversation with our psychiatrist about generic Vyvanse compared to brand name. He thinks that it is equivalent usually. However he said Concerta can really be different because the size of the molecules being released from capsule matter for it to have it’s extended release properties. Not all generics have mastered this.

With Vyvanse, I would give it a go and see how he does.

[Willowbee37 in reply to 4travelers]

Ahh thanks. My son use to be on concerta and he didn’t do well on the generic. I’ve heard the same with vyvanse but haven’t actually experienced and honestly dont want to haha. I’m gonna request name brand only after this bother stop swapping when they feel like it.

[penn_adhd in reply to 4travelers]

The r/adhd sub reddit has a number posts from folks about the generic not working for them either at all or not as well. I hadn't heard about that yet before wondering why my kid's meds seemed to not always work and we had a bottle of brand name and generic both and he'd grab whichever bottle in the morning. We ended up with the generic and brand name both when his dose was raised before we were done with the last bottle I think.

[Chicagomom]

This happened to my daughter. Her psychiatrist then submitted with brand name only which was rejected by insurance. The psychiatrist then submitted a prior authorization to insurance which was rejected as well. Ultimately I needed to pay out of pocket for brand name Vyvanse. It is not cheap. The pharmacy typically has a coupon which lowers the price a bit, and then I use my FSA to get reimbursed.

[penn_adhd in reply to Chicagomom]

A coupon? I haven't had those for Vyvanse. It's free for us with Medicaid covering it, but our insurance won't be covering the brand name scripts anymore. When we were at RiteAid, with the same coverage, they charged us $40. I switched to the grocery store pharmacy and suddenly it was free.

[penn_adhd]

You can have the doctor specify that brand name is required on the prescriptions. IThe generic worked, but not as well, for my son. Also, starting this month our insurance will cover the generic, but not the brand name Vyvanse ans our dr is going to submit a letter to insurance to see if it will get then to cover it. BUT they may respond by saying try these other med first which we're just not going to do because this works for us and has for a while now.

[MP66]

My daughter also did not do well on generic. Her psychiatrist has to specifically note that she gets brand name. Pharmacies unfortunately don't get a say in the process if insurance overrides with "sub for generic if available" (or however they word it). My psychiatrist said that generics only have to be 70% (or something like that) of the stated main ingredient to be put on the market. It's ridiculous.

[Chicagomom]

there is a tool called Walgreens Rx savings finder which allows for discounts on meds not covered by insurance. I think in our case the rx was still hundreds of dollars, but there was a savings.

[lenkebra]

This is unfortunately a very common problem. One, unless the doctor explicitly indicates on the prescription "brand only", then the pharmacy will tend to default to a generic version. Two, with brand named medication it doesn't matter, but with some generic medication, the manufacturer makes a huge difference. Some pharmacists will say, 'oh, it's all the same', but it's not. With my son for example, a generic medication only worked with a certain manufacturer & that's it. When given by another manufacturer, it was like giving him nothing and it showed. This has happened several occasions during his adhd journey. Thirdly, with certain brand name medications, some if not all insurance companies will indicate that you have to try to utilize generic first and show that it doesn't work before they will cover the brand named medication. Yes, another example of an insurance company playing "doctor" and with people's lives.

In the end and as you know, at least with a brand named medication you know exactly what you are getting as opposed to the alternative. This journey is already beyond hard enough without these scenarios being in the mix.