Magdalena Bosak1, Agnieszka Słowik2, Tomasz Dziedzic2. 1. Dept. of Neurology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland. Electronic address: magdalena.bosak@uj.edu.pl. 2. Dept. of Neurology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To determine the clinical outcomes of brand-to- generic oxcarbazepine (OXC) switch in patients with epilepsy. METHODS: This prospective observational study included 103 patients treated with OXC in the tertiary outpatient epilepsy clinic. In 2016 the price of the brand-name OXC in Poland increased by 10 times in comparison to the generic products. Assuming that the majority of the patients would be forced to switch to generic drugs due to financial issues we decided to follow them prospectively to evaluate the safety of switching from brand-name to generic OXC. RESULTS: A quarter of our cohort (26%) decided to continue on brand-name OXC, the majority (74%) switched to generic products. We did not find differences in terms of frequency of seizures and adverse events between patients continuing on brand-name OXC and those switching to generic AED. CONCLUSION: The switching from brand-name to generic OXC seems to be safe, however, larger prospective studies are required in order to confirm our findings.
PURPOSE: To determine the clinical outcomes of brand-to- generic oxcarbazepine (OXC) switch in patients with epilepsy. METHODS: This prospective observational study included 103 patients treated with OXC in the tertiary outpatientepilepsy clinic. In 2016 the price of the brand-nameOXC in Poland increased by 10 times in comparison to the generic products. Assuming that the majority of the patients would be forced to switch to generic drugs due to financial issues we decided to follow them prospectively to evaluate the safety of switching from brand-name to generic OXC. RESULTS: A quarter of our cohort (26%) decided to continue on brand-nameOXC, the majority (74%) switched to generic products. We did not find differences in terms of frequency of seizures and adverse events between patients continuing on brand-nameOXC and those switching to generic AED. CONCLUSION: The switching from brand-name to generic OXC seems to be safe, however, larger prospective studies are required in order to confirm our findings.