Dad's H. Pylori test was positive problem is the medication pack is $400. ?

Question

Is there any generic drugs used to treat this? I'm going to call his doctor monday (closed on weekends). I talked to the pharamacy and they said there wasn't a generic for the pack she prescribed.

Answer 1

The typical treatment for H. Pylori is either a proton pump inhibitor (Omeprazole or other PPI) or a H2 blocker (Ranitidine or other H2 blocker) plus antibiotics.  Recommended antibiotics are metronidazole or amoxicillin with clarithromycin.  The antibiotics are prescribed for one week and the PPI is taken for 4-6 weeks.  The antibiotics are relatively cheap since they are available in generic form.  The expensive part is the PPI.  There are alot of PPIs available on the market now and if you order through an internet service you can find huge (80%) discounts.  Try westcoastdrugs.com.

If your father is allergic to penicillin, metronidazole and clarithromycin  is the better choice.  With a PPI. H2 blockers are less expensive too but might not be as effective as PPIs.

The "pack" is a way for the pharmaceutical companies to make money.  they package a combination of generically available medication with one that isn't and now they can claim the "pack" is not available generically, but all these medications can be bought for cheaper separately.

The pharmacist doesn't want you to know this either because he has his mark-up too.