How to Use Varenicline (Chantix)

Topics: Chantix | Generics | Smoking Cessation | Smoking Cessation Agents | Tobacco | Varenicline

Henry is a 45-year-old married man with anxiety and alcohol use disorder who smokes a pack a day. He has tried nicotine replacement in the past but was unsuccessful. His alcohol use has stabilized in recent months, and he believes he is ready to make another attempt at quitting smoking. There are three medications with FDA approval for nicotine depende

What’s Wrong With Generics?

Topics: Generics | Pharmaceutical Industry

TCPR: What’s wrong with generic drugs?Ms. Eban: That’s the question that got me started. In 2008, I got a phone call from Joe Graedon, the pharmacologist who hosts the NPR program The People’s Pharmacy. He was getting complaints from listeners who were saying that their generic drugs were either causing troubling side effects or weren’t effectiv

Metformin ER Recalled Due to Cancer Risk

Topics: Antipsychotics | Generics | Metformin | Weight gain | Weight Loss Medications

Metformin is often prescribed to our patients to prevent weight gain on antipsychotics, but recently the FDA discovered that large batches of various metformin ER formulations may be contaminated with a carcinogen. Voluntary recalls of metformin ER began in May 2020 and have continued to the present. The result is drug shortages, fear, and an unanswered

A Guide to Online and Overseas Pharmacies

Topics: Clinical practice | Generics | Insurance | Internet | Pharmacy | Practice Tools and Tips | Prescription costs

You’ve probably seen these scenarios in your practice. A patient doing well on Latuda can’t afford the $800 monthly cost with a new insurance plan. Another patient on disulfiram can’t find the medication because there is a nationwide shortage. Someone else expresses interest in medications used in other countries like amisulpride, tianeptine, or a

Nuedexta in Agitated Dementia

Topics: Agitation | Dementia | Generics | Nuedexta | Pharmaceutical Industry | pseudobulbar affect

Treating agitation in dementia is no easy task. Behavioral interventions are first line, but they are difficult to implement and often insufficient. Psychotropics show modest benefits, but they are prone to causing adverse events. Benzodiazepines can precipitate falls, disinhibition, and confusion. Antipsychotics have a black box warning about an increa