Different drug companies

[jaycee444]

Not sure why I always feel some unease when my Prednisolone comes from a different company than my norm. My pharmacist invariably gives me my 5mg Prednisolone from Accord. Lately there have been a few different companies and today the packaging was from RelonChem. Never heard of this drug company. Looked on line and my ipad saying insecure website which doesn’t help. Guess the NHS is probably using the cheapest possible whenever it can which makes sense but as a regular user I find it disconcerting. …. Am I daft?// ………On further inspection looks like the regulators had problems with this company a few years back .

google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j...

[Mayadill]

Regulators? Insecure site? Aaargh! Mine comes from Accord still. It might not just be profit - supply issues, thinking any Pred is better than none - but in your situation I'd take my findings to my GP in the first instance.

Edit: Not an Apple so didn't know if that meant you weren't able to access the site. Did you pick up this?

Relonchem Ltd has been established in 2002 and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Marksans Pharma Ltd, One of the large pharmaceutical manufacturers based in Mumbai, India with interests in the UK, Germany, USA, Canada and Australia.

Over the years, we have achieved considerable growth and made substantial investments to increase the product portfolio. We are committed to improving efficiency year on year.

Bells healthcare (Relonchem’s sister company) business was acquired by Marksans Pharma in January 2008.

Relonchem Ltd business was acquired by Marksans Pharma in September 2008. Marksans Pharma is an India based organisation with operations in India, Germany, Australia and USA.

The Marksans plant in Goa is MHRA, TGA and FDA approved.

relonchem.com/history

[PMRpro Ambassador]

It is part of the globalisation of drug production - and other things - with everyone desperate to get the cheapest of everything, Covid has exposed the downsides of globalisation. But getting out of it is rather difficult. The raw ingredients for all companies are probably sourced from the same places and if they are produced in Europe then you can be sure they are kept a close eye on. The active substance of generics is the same, there may be a difference in the fillers.

[Bcol]

The biggest grump I have is not the change in company per se but that the tablets often seem to come looking totally different in size and or colour. My present Omeprazole are white and blue as oposed to the plain white of the last ones. My OH queried them in my daily box as they were different from yesterday's. My present 1mg Pred tablets are so small that cutting them in half is going to be a nightmare.

[Exflex in reply to Bcol]

Tell me… I’m cutting them into quarters. But as I see it it’s swings and roundabouts. A little less one day, a little more the next.

[PMRnewbie2017]

Anything marketed in UK has a PL (Product Licence) number on the packaging and this number is issued by the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority.) You can check the product by putting the PL number into the MHRA website