Can I Buy Generic Suboxone?
Suboxone® (
buprenorphine and naloxone) is a prescription medication approved to treat opioid dependence. Suboxone is a Schedule III
controlled substance because it has potential for abuse. There are strict laws and regulations controlling its use. It comes as a sublingual tablet or a sublingual film, both of which are dissolved under the tongue.
Brand-name Suboxone is manufactured by Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Although all of the patents for Suboxone tablets have expired, there are no generic versions available at this time. For the film, it appears that certain exclusivity rights will protect the drug from generic competition for a while longer.
Why Are Suboxone Tablets Not Available in Generic Form?
This is a puzzling question. There does not appear to be any legal reason that generic manufacturers could not decide to make generic versions of the drug. Given that Suboxone is fairly expensive and relatively popular, it would seem likely that many generic manufacturers would be eager to make their own versions. At this point, it is unclear when a generic version of Suboxone tablets might become available.
What About Generic Suboxone Film?
This question is a little more straightforward. Suboxone sublingual film is protected by exclusivity rights, which are similar to patents, but not exactly the same. These exclusivity rights are set to expire in August 2013. This is the earliest predictable date that a generic version might become available.
However, given the strange absence of generic Suboxone tablets (despite the patent expiration), perhaps a little caution is warranted when predicting when exactly a generic version of
Suboxone film might become available.
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