Im Elton, 37 years old from Melbourne Australia
I went to get my usual entecavir today and was told my by local pharmacy that they are no longer continuing the Baraclude brand.
I have bought a generic brand (Apotex)as I didn’t have any other option. Have any of you had any issues with this? I’m still waiting to hear from my specialist. Looks like the same drug, just different brand but I wanted to make sure it has the same affect.
Yeah, this will have the same medication and have the same effect as the Baraclude brand, except it’s way cheaper because it was made off-patent. The patent over Baraclude/Entecavir ran out a while ago in 2015. People were still buying it after that because they were used to it (even though there were generics around), but I suppose it has been long enough that most people have simply moved over to generics and now it won’t be covered by the PBS. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Thanks for your quick reply.
The pharmacy didn’t give me much information so it’s good to get some reassurance from someone who has more knowledge than me.
I agree with Thomas. There should be no reason that generic Entecavir will not work as well as the brand name Baraclude. These generics are the same molecule, and their production is carefully regulated by the relevant drug agencies in countries with robust oversight bodies, and Australia definitely falls into that category. I think the biggest effect will be that you end up saving some money!
John Tavis, PhD
Director, Saint Louis University Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation
As far as I can tell, Sandoz is a generic version of entecavir while baraclude is the brand name version from Bristol-Myers Sqibb. Baraclude has actually been taken off the PBS, which is probably why you cannot find it in Australia. Generic Entecavir has the same active content as baraclude, so it should work the same against the virus.
Hi Thomas
Which brand of generic is the best one of Baraclude, Sandoz is not avalible aswell at the moment only Apotex is avalaible here in Sydney
Im worried because i never use generic but the branded one is already discontinue in Australia.
Welcome to the forum and great to hear from a fellow Sydney-sider.
As mentioned above, all approved generics should have the same amount of active ingredient as the brand-name drug, so I don’t think there is a functional difference between the different ones.
