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Common Misspellings:
(lisinopril)
Prinivil® is for the treatment of hypertension, which is high blood pressure. Prinivil® can also be used in the management of heart failure with patients who are not responding to diuretics and digitalis. More information about high blood pressure .
A very common side effect of Prinivil® is dizziness, which is caused by a drop in blood pressure. While taking Prinivil®, if there are any abnormal side effects, like an allergic reaction, or any abnormal swelling, a physician should be contacted immediately. Another common side effect of Prinivil® is a cough.
A very uncommon and dangerous side effect of Prinivil® is a drop in the white blood cell count. Other rare side effects of Prinivil® can include: nausea, headaches, anxiety, insomnia, drowsiness, nasal congestion and sexual dysfunction.
Before taking Prinivil®, you should have you kidney function checked, since Prinivil® could impair this.
Side effects are difficult to predict. Some side effects are normal, while other side effects are not. Always discuss any side effects you are experiencing while taking any prescription medication, including Prinivil®, with your doctor.
In 90 to 95% of all people with high blood pressure the cause is unknown. There are almost no symptoms for high blood pressure. Most people who have hypertension or high blood pressure only find out during an examination. It is important to get regular check-ups from your doctor. High blood pressure can be a major risk factor for stroke, heart attack, kidney and heart failure.
Talk to your doctor to see if Prinivil® is right to treat your hypertension or high blood pressure.
January 17, 2004
Provided by: Canadian Press
Written by: LAURAN NEERGAARD
WASHINGTON (AP) - Americans who buy prescription drugs from Canada in hopes of saving money could pay significantly more for certain medicines than if they had purchased generic versions at home, research by the Food and Drug Administration suggests.
Canadian price controls mean that brand-name drugs in Canada can cost as little as half the U.S. price. Those potential savings are enticing increasingly more people to import drugs from Canada , even though the practice is illegal and the FDA calls it unsafe.
Generic versions cost much less than their brand-name counterparts, however, and the U.S. generics market is considered the world's most competitive. So FDA commissioner Mark McClellan argues that for many people, buying more homegrown generics is a risk-free alternative to imports that could lower their drug costs.
"There are a lot of opportunities to save money while still making sure patients get the drugs they need," McClellan said in an interview this month with The Associated Press.
To back that contention, the FDA analysed price data collected by the medical research company IMS Health. Included were seven drugs whose generic versions are top-selling treatments for chroni c d isease: the anti-depressant Prozac; blood pressure medicines Lopressor,Prinivil and Vasotec; Xanax for anxiety; Klonopin for seizures; and Glucophage for diabetes.
Comparing both brand-name and generic versions in Canada, the U.S. generics proved significantly cheaper for all but the diabetes drug, the study concluded.
The study measured average price per milligram, not what the patient pays per bottle, which can vary in dose and pill number.
Among the findings:
-Xanax had the highest disparity. The Canadian brand was roughly nine times the price, per milligram, of the U.S. generic. Next was Vasotec, five times the price of the U.S. generic.
- Canada 's generics ranged from fluoxetine, or generic Prozac, at 1.3 times the U.S. price, to alprazolam, or generic Xanax, at four times the U.S. price. One generic, the version of Vasotec called enalapril, is not sold in Canada .
-Glucophage was the exception. The U.S. generic actually cost 39 per cent more per milligram than Canada 's brand-name version.
The study used the price that pharmacies paid for each drug in 2002, the latest full year that prices from both countries were available from IMS Health.
"I think consumers think everything's cheaper in Canada . It's just not the case," the FDA's pharmacy affairs chief, Tom McGinnis, said in a recent interview.
He described a recent visit to a U.S. Customs facility in New York where inspectors were examining 10,000 packages of imported pharmaceuticals. McGinnis said he spotted a bottle of generic water pills for high blood pressure that cost a few cents a tablet in U.S. pharmacies.
Adding the shipping cost, whoever ordered that bottle from Canada spent about a third more than he would have at a local drugstore, McGinnis said.
Using generics is not an alternative for everyone because new drugs sell for several years before generic competition is allowed. Generics account for about half of U.S. prescriptions.
The FDA cannot say how big a role generics might play as an alternative to Canadian imports, either for individuals or for the two cities - Springfield , Mass. , and Montgomery , Ala. - currently buying Canadian drugs for their employees. States from New Hampshire to Wisconsin are considering similar programs.
But other, larger studies also have concluded that U.S. generics tend to be the world's cheapest.
"They're a great bargain," said University of Pennsylvania health financing specialist Patricia Danzon.
A Canadian study of 27 top-selling generics in Canada concluded in 2001 that three-fourths of those drugs cost less in the United States , and Canadians could save millions of dollars with access to U.S. versions.
The FDA also pointed to a website - PharmacyChecker.com - that provides consumers with real-time comparisons of drug prices listed in the United States and abroad.
For example, on Friday, PharmacyChecker found the cheapest generic Prozac in the United States , $13.19 for 100 20-milligram pills. Abroad, the next best price was $49.78.
On the Net:
FDA background on imported drugs: fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/importdrugs/default.htm
For more news about Prinivil® check back later, as it is always being updated.