Asacol is being discontinued!

From the Delzicol website:

Indication

DELZICOL™ (mesalamine) delayed-release capsules are available only by prescription for the treatment of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis (UC) and for the maintenance of remission of UC in adults.

ASACOL® (mesalamine) delayed-release tablets are for the treatment of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis (UC) and the maintenance of remission of UC.

DELZICOL™ (mesalamine) delayed-release capsules have been shown to be equivalent to ASACOL® (mesalamine) delayed-release tablets.


So one would assume this will be as good if not better, no?

I understand that. But I don't think it would be good business to discontinue one drug in favor of another that is less effective.

It does sound like there's a similarity to what happened in late 2011-early 2012 with brandname Colazal shortages and sudden discontinuation notice. Asacol has already come out with an HD-product. Colazal's manufacturer was planning to produce an HD form to be called Giazo. (Colazal is a capsule; Giazo would be a tablet. Asacol is a tablet, but you say that Delzicol will be a capsule [?]) Essentially, the big pharmas play around with production to stay competitive and max-out profit margins! You could contact the office of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar to ask about legislation she introduced in the Senate to curb such potentially harmful pharmaceutical practices as withdrawing drugs from production w/o advance notice. This became a big issue in medical practice last yr-- because IV leukemia meds were severely affected. (My gastro told me about it before major media reports picked up.) / Old Hat (32 yrs with left-sided UC; presently in remission taking brandname Colazal)

Oh thats just great!!! No safety studies. Wow.

Sorry for assuming this was an April Fool's Day joke--the timing of the post, plus the lack of information available online made it pretty unbelievable!

I had an appointment today and asked my doctor about it. He said that it's not really a thing--the manufacturer just doesn't want to keep making the 400mg pills anymore, probably because they're not as profitable as they once were. Delzicol is essentially the same thing (and I wouldn't really worry so much about the inactive ingredients, which would already have been tested for safety). However, Asacol HD (800mg tablets) will still be manufactured. It's the same thing as regular Asacol, but it's twice the amount of medicine (and twice the size).

So if you're taking 6 Asacol tabs a day, you could switch to Asacol HD and just take 3. Voila.

A good healthy debate can bring out some useful information. For example, I didn't know that many people didn't do well on Balsalazide vrs Colazal. I am not improving since being taken off Sulfasalazine and put on Balsalazide...in fact I've gotten sicker. I just left a message with my doctor's nurse line to put me on anything else because this isn't working. I have an appointment on the 15th, but doubt I'll make it that far.

The pharmaceutical industry is basically private enterprise. You cannot compel a company to continue making a drug after their patent protection runs out. The only thing you could do is entice them by extending their patent - but hen no generic.

I guess we could pass a law that a company cannot discontinue a drug until a generic comes on market, but then we would have big-bad-government interfering in the private marketplace.

BUT GUESS WHAT? THEY AREN'T. - Some folks here are just panic mongering fools that cant use google to find basic info.

The company that makes Asacol is made by Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. The new drug Delzicol is made by Warner Chilcott (US), LLC.

So as one company predictably decides to discontinue a drug when their patent expires, you see another company trying to help launch its new product by saying "aw, no Asacol. DOn't worry. We are almost the same, only better."

So all this talk of "this is bullcrap" and "TEHY" are doing this ... e.g., THEY are discontinuing Asacol, and THEY are pointing to a new drug" - well I think you shoudl disregard most of the stuff that follows in sentences that begin with vague unspecific THEYs.

I might favor a law that prohibited a company's marketing arm from pointing to their new patent drug when ending production on an old one. But that is not happening here.

You could make a law that prohibited new name-brand drugs tryingto capitalize on unease when a popular drug goes generic - but that limits free speech.


Anyway, it make sense that a generic manufacturer will also try to capture the Asacol market. It also makes sense that there may be some disruption in supply while the original manufacturer exits and one or more generic manufactures enter.

There are almost no studies comparing one form of melsalamine to another. Almost every one came to market compared to a placebo, or to some old generic type. I can recall a study that compared the MMX matrix of Lialda to the enteric coating of some other brand. Usually they just demonstrate that concentrations are higher where they say the release is designed to hit.

We could make a law that after phase-III trials, new phase-IV trials have to show it is significantly better than the drugs already on the market, but that seems like it would only make FDA approval even longer.

While there are accounts of one form/pill/brand working better for some, I think for may people alternate forms might work as well or better. I have started to notice some occasional intact Lialda in poop, so I'm considering lowering the Lialda dose and adding in some form of 5-asa that released differently - jut to cover my bases/colon.

Why would you think discontinuing Asacol would result of no generic? A generic is made by a different company than the original manufacturer when the patents have run out. Someone can still make a generic if they want at the right time.

Told you I wasnt lying.

With the generic thing...i dont know...because there making an almost identical drug I guess.

On page one you implied i was making it all up but whatever.

You're pretty defensive. Please accept my apologies. I hope that we are both okay and able to continue taking medications that help us.

Hey, the good part is that all of us are now aware that Asacol will not be available so we should start researching what med would be best for us -- and if there will be a generic, that's great too. I believe I'm better off today because I can prepare myself for the discontinuation of Asacol. Thanks to all of you for a great discussion!

Asacol 400mg generic has been available in Canada since late 2012...I'm using the Novo-5ASA, and so far so good.

Strange it's available here and not in the US initially..
Hopefully, it will be soon.

q