Why is generic norco m367 so weak?
Question posted by Anonymous on 25 Feb 2011
Last updated on 23 August 2022
38 Answers Page 2
First of all because of the effects of acetaminophen Aka Tylenol on the liver all of the hydrocodone medications such as Lortab Vicodin Norco Lorcet blah blah blah, they now (all brand names and all dosages) contain the same amount of acetaminophen which is 325mg. However, most people who have taken hydrocodone for any lengthy recovery period, that has been given different brands would likely agree that the yellow Norco's are far more effective. I myself have found this to be true even though the two main ingredients,hydrocodone and acetaminophen,are the same whatever "fillers" are being used are clearly different!
I was told that generics only have to be up to 60 percent as effect add name brand. . Which I've never really noticed a difference between them. . I have noticed that since they took the Tylenol down from 500 mg. That they don't seem to effect me as much anymore. . And those greenish looking loracets are terrible. .
I have been using another generic equivalent of the 10/325 for years. My brother filled my newest prescription at his pharmacy and it was white and marked M367. I commented on the difference in the appearance of the pill and we both double checked the label and it appeared in order. After taking the first one I noticed such a difference in the effectiveness that I looked it up to make sure it was the correct drug. It definitely does NOT have the same amount of pain relief as my usual yellow oblong tablet. I'm certain I did not imagine this and as I find on this site many many others feel the same. We are being duped.
I had a hand surgery in 2012 and was given the yellow Norco 10. Just today I had surgery on my toe and was given the white 10. This pill doesn't seem to be working as well. I'm having to take them every 4 hours. Just don't work the same
Foot surgery is one of the WORST surgeries I have had - including back and hip replacement.it may just be that the pain of your foot surgery is just much worse than the pain you experienced w your hand. I'm on this post now tho reading reviews bc I have always received YELLOW narco's but today got IP 110s instead - praying I have better results than I'm reading else this is gonna be a LONG month b4 I can refill and ASK for yellow norco's - Idk if I will be able to get yellow vs these IP 110s or not!
What no one else told you is that all drugs have different INACTIVE ingredients. Thats a big reason different brands of the SAME thing may work much different on you, it all depends on which inactive ingredients your body takes to.
Well, I'm back. My last post mentioned that my pharmacy (a CVS store, used primarily for the "Californian Discount" which takes my $214.00 pain medication prescription and reduces it down to less than $100.00 - that's for 360 pills a month).
So it's been (I don't even remember, 6, or 9 months) since my CVS store switched to the "white Norco". When I last reported in somebody had suggested that there could be up to a +/- 20% difference in the quantity of the individual ingredients in each batch the manufacturer produces. Personally I find that to be bunk since 20% is a huge amount to be "off" by in their pills.
But I took it on face value back then that maybe this could be true and that the reason that the "white norco" were working better for me than the Qualitest and any other "yellow norco" medications is that I got lucky and got a batch that had +20% hydrocodone in the batch of medication that my prescription came from.
Well... It's been like 6 or 9 months now, and I still don't believe that drug manufacturers can be off by as much as + or - 20% in the individual ingredients that go into the "Norco" pain medication. And since it's been like 6 or 9 months now it's highly unlikely that I've just gotten lucky batches every single month for the past 9 months that have had up to and extra 20% hydrocodone in each pill.
So, while some people have complained that these "white colored Norco" pills don't work as good for them, they say they're cheap, they're not as good as the Qualitest, I have the opposite to say.
They've worked the best for me and the pain in my body, much better than the yellow Qualitest Norco pills by far. The only others that I've had in the past # of years that I've had to take this pain medication was when some of the pharmacies were still ordering from Watson labs. I still remember the "Norco" that was manufactured by Watson Labs were the best at knocking out the pain and then one day, all the local mom and pop pharmachies in our small town stopped ordering them and switched to either the "white" pills or to the Qualitest pills and all the larger pharmacies switched to the Qualitest pills until about 6 or 9 months ago when our local CVS switched to the White pills made by the company that starts with an M of which I can't remember their exact name nor even try to spell it (lol).
So yeah, for me, these white ones are the best working to help reduce the pain as well as put a pep in my step, which the Qualitest never did.
YMMV
Well this may be way off base but maybe not. I am a hair stylist and I use pretty high end products. I've had clients get generic versions of these and saying its not the same... it's close but not same. In my business, everyone knows its a known fact that products like
GOLDWELL... Matrix... PRAVANA... Bumble & Bumble..Aveda... all have patents and registered trademarks on all products. Companies who make generic versions of this can't legally claim to be the same but merely "compared to... " This is because patent rights forbid another generic company from using the exact same formula... if that was case then any ole body could make these high end products. It's illegal for anyone to use exact same formula and or ingredients. It's possible this goes for ANY generic version of anything.
I myself prefer Qualitest or Watson CVS doesn't carry either and it didn't dawn on me until after I left. I was so bummed out and now I'm just waiting to get refill at diff pharmacy. I have seen white 10/325's those worked the best then the yellows which Walgreens and Target carry. Pay the extra money and research which pharms carry which brands... it's worth the extra effort!
Hope this helps! :)
Unless you have done regular business with the pharmacy, possibly also someone working in the pharmacy is replacing the actual drug with a look alike. Just a thought.
Oh the drug companies are so clever, saving 5-10¢ per pill or more by intentionally shorting the amount of medicine because the "law" allows. I decided to do some research on this subject before jumping to conclusions. Anyone out there that think BIG Pharma (the drug companies) have your best interest at heart, raise your hands. I didn't think so. No one? You're correct. As for white & yellow hydrocodone/APAP being different, you bet they are. The new white pills do one thing. Make Actavis money. They are moving from Jersey to Ireland as fast as they can. If you aren't feeling ripped off, you should. They will take their tax dollars with them. Refuse this improperly compounded medicine. Their OWN employees admit "Kinetic Imbalances" which is no different then mom using margarine in the cookies instead of butter. Or leaving out 20% of the salt. If you are so out of your body you can't feel the difference, God help you.
REFUSE those white "Watson" 853 pills, people won't think it's so funny if a batch comes through with 325mg hydrocodone and 10mg acetaminophen.
FYI:Watson quietly bought Actavis for $5.9 Billion last year
ROMANBEAR, you make some compelling points, I have the yellow ones made by Qualitest, they seem to work ok, even though the only difference is the color, they are generic, too. Do you believe Qualitest rips people off as well as Watson Labs?
Macintosh12, no I do not believe the Q's business practices are the same at all. Their medicine seems to work and has been reliable in my personal experience. I haven't done specific research like on Actavis where I specifically reached out to employees, local pharmacies, and the FDA. Consumers are left literally hurting in this situation, there isn't much recourse.
Perhaps but since I get 330 of the pain pills (10/325 hydrocodone / acetaminophen) for only ~$100 (using the "Californian" discount that anybody can use from California in a California CVS store that makes them only about 3.3¢ to begin with and I'm pretty sure that they're not selling them to me below their cost. Would be interesting to see them try to save 5 to 10¢ per pill on my generic Norco, maybe I'd go to pick up my prescription every month and they'd have to "give" me money with my prescription LOL
In all seriousness though... See what I wrote prior to this post, Unless I've been the luckiest guy in the health care system and for the past 9 months gotten batches of the "white generic Norco" that had up to 20% more hydrocone in every pill, I seriously have to doubt that the drug manufacturers are making their medications with a variance of up to 20% either way (plus or minus) as they'd not be in business long if their medications didn't work.
Personally I think the majority of people just don't get "it"... They've built up a tolerance to their meds, and at the same time their pharmacy started using a new manufacturer and the patient simply puts 2+2 together, unfortunately they're coming up with 2+2=7 instead of 2+2=4
Time to talk to your Doctors folks, let him know that it's not working as good anymore for you so that he can switch you to another Opiod based medication for a while.
your right just that brand but several othersbut not
What is yellow 3601 norco
Well I have four tore muscles in my right shoulder, I got a deep fiber tare in my supra something, minor tare in rotator cuff, one across my shoulder, and minor tare where bicep connects to shoulder, two Drs says deep fiber can't be cured without surgery other two Drs thanks that physical therapy will cure it all, well a new Dr seen me last Thursday and cut me off of hydrocodone cause she is a health freak and told me, its not getting better cause of my diet, apparently she knows my pain better than I do, and says I don't need pain meds, I just need to fix my diet, but regarding to this question, Watson's r the best no matter what the mg, blue or yellow, I'm no pharmacist, but there is a difference, the 367 10-500 ain't worth a crap,
FACT: FDA requires generic drugs to have the same quality and performance as brand name drugs. There is no such thing as a 20% difference between brandname and generic. You probably just have an old med or have grown immune to the hydrocodone, it happens all the time.
M67 does not work and my pharmacy is trying to tell me there is no brand!
HAHA
FACT: All Hydrocodones will be white in the very near future. All the manufactures are taking out the dyes (no more; green Watsons 10/650, blue Watson 10/500, blue Mallies 10/650, yellow Norco, etc., etc.). I'm from Houston... the pain pill capital... so I know what I'm talking about.
Fact: the FDA got effectively bushwhacked on this one. Pretty clever if there is NO brand name, only generic. Please tell us more things that happen all the time. I compared old and new Watson pharmaceutical catalogs. For 2013 Hydrocodone/APAP has 3 models just like premium gasoline, mid grade, and regular. Two of these have dyes. Now tell me again there are NO differences. I'm just going to get angry again!
You are so wrong. Why do people like you with no knowledge of what your talking about insist on shooting your mouth off?
bonelli, we speak (write) with respect on this site, we don't slam each other, so please don't use terms such as "shooting your mouth off" when talking to another member. Just attempt some civility, it will garner you more respect and will make others actually want to read your posts.
I understand your anger over this situation, but keep it kind.
Mac
Yeah, I think it is less than 1% they would allow. I spent my career in the agricultural chemical business and we couldn't get away with even 1% difference. We usually make the % ai a little higher to avoid being under spec.
I tell you folks I think it boils down to particle size of the tech, and the increased expenses associated with making tech particles in the 5 micron range via air milling vs ball or hammer milling (the cheap high volume way) with particles in the 90 to 150 micron size. Of course this depends on the solubility of the tech in our gut environment, and I don't know this part of the equation. Maybe one of you PharmD's can help here.
i have noticed that the walmart brand m367 are crappy compaired to the generic by walgreens which are a watson brand.word of advice pay a bit more for a better pharmacy generics then to buy the weak junk from walmart.
The Generic Norco's that say M367 are made by Malan pharmaceuticals.(Which tend to be on the cheaper side) They are missing a binding ingredient that some of the yellow ones have, The Yellow Norcos made from Qualitest and Watson; your high-quality generic pharmaceuticals carry that binding ingredient .
Yes. you are correct they are not as strong because of the absorption process and that missing binding ingredient. Everyone is different though; Age, Weight, and Height. If you do not care for those just go to a new Pharmacy, most of the major Pharmacy's carry the yellow ones. Depending on what state your from I would stay away from Walmart they most likely carry a contract with Malan Pharmaceuticals.
I am not a professional, just a Pharm Tech this is based on my personal option, not a professional .
rbob, the norco m367 is manufactured by Mallinckrodt, I have taken there 30mg oxycodone light blue with [M] on one side which COMPARED to the 30mg oxycodone marked R 215 [blue] on one side made by ACTAVIS PHARMA is also very weak, actually they suck compared to the Actavis!! I have taken the Norco m367 and agree with you, plain and simple Mallinckrodt med's just are not as good as other manufactures in my opinion. The pharmacist may tell you they are the same and you would expect that but they are not..period!!!
Correction it is A 215 not R 215 eyes are a little weak!!
Well all I know I wish I could get a pain med I go to the Va because I have DDD, broke my t3, have a blown ACL, been blown up 4 times overseas (caused bleeding on both sides the brain). Four knee surgeries (3 minuscus, 1 ACL). An I'm told," you handled it this long so I don't need it and amount of damage you have of course You would feel pain. Here I'll right you a prescription for therapy" thanks doc good to know I wasted 6 hours to hear you say I know your knee hurts so here is something to make it hurt more but you can't have anything for it for the pain your in not the pain you'll be in during therapy. Ahole
Your problem is in your first line. VA. If your depending on the GOVERNMENT to help you that is the first mistake. Take the money they give you for disability and go to a real doctor. db
Well since you know how good the government is disability is controlled by the government and they have had me pending for 2 years for disability. An secondly don't assume you know what's in my pocket ass clown
Just telling you what is what. I tried the VA back in the 70s and found out first hand that if your not a major or better your at the end of the line.
I've been waiting for about 2 and 1/2 years on VA! Change your PCP! I had another NP at VA tell me you just have to live in pain. If at all possible get a private Dr to get you on the meds then take the script to your VA Dr and they'll transfer it in and your hopefully new PCP from VA will treat you better. We are all treated the same way. We just have to navigate the system together and help each other. :-) if it was left up to VA they'd try to kill us. :-/
My father was at the VA in Charleston SC.. wasn't anything in the military just drafted in Vietnam. . He had to fight with them for a while on certain things. . But honestly those ppl were great to him... they kept him alive a little longer than he should have been. .they would go out of their way to call him and actually make him come in, because he never wanted to see a doctor ever, even when he was in pain and dieing.
I have had several surgeries over the past few years for various problems, and have been on a pain management program for awhile now, and I can assure you... there IS a difference in the different medications that pharmacies give. If I get my Norco 10's in the oval yellow pill, they work fine. I can take one every 6-8 hours and it works. If I get them in the white oval M367 pill, I have to take 1 1/2 to 2 pills every 6-8 hours, and sometimes I will have to take a half in another 3-4 hours. There seems to be a difference in the quality/potency of the ingredients of the generic over the name brand. I have noticed it as well, it's not just you. People commenting to the contrary don't seem to understand what you are asking... I do. There IS a difference, not only in the quality/potency... but the price as well. Basically, you get what you pay for.
I agree. I was taking Watson 10/325 and they were working fine. Then in April 2018 they changed Mallinckrodt M367. I didn't even notice it was a different pill, because they are both white. I was in horrid pain. I was down for a month. I called the pharmacy and of course they said there's no difference. There is a HUGE difference. I haven't been the same since. Pain is horrible and anxiety and stomach cramps. In May 2019 they changed my temazepam from Mylan to Ascension and I dont sleep more than 4 hours. Then, they changed my fentanyl patch in August 2019 from Mylan to Mallinckrodt. Severe anxiety and I have no pain relief. NOW, IM TOLD I HAVE TO EITHER STOP THE SLEEPING PILLS OR DROP THE PAIN PILLS. I HOPE WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING US SUFFER LIKE THIS ENDS UP IN CHRONIC PAIN THEMSELVES!! THIS IS CRUEL. I NEED SLEEP TO HELP ME START THE DAY OF PAIN WITH A FRESH START.
MALLINCKRODT IS RIPPING US OFF. THIS IS THE GOVERNMENT THAT IS ORDERING THIS DEATH SENTENCE TO THOSE OF US IN PAIN. M367 IS CRAP.
These people who are saying they aren't the same are either selling them or they are an employee of Mallinckrodt.
Related topics
Further information
- Norco uses and safety info
- Norco prescribing info & package insert (for Health Professionals)
- Side effects of Norco (detailed)
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