Posted by King Vultan on June 26, 2004, at 12:14:54
In reply to Nardil, new formula???, posted by JayDee on June 26, 2004, at 0:41:43
Yes, the formula was changed in 2003. Pfizer ran into some difficulties making the traditional version and had to recall 19,013 bottles in September, 2002, because it was subpotent due to some kind of stability/shelf life problem. I believe it was in the fall of 2003 when they made the formulation change. The active ingredient, phenelzine sulfate, is identical, but a number of the "excipients", that is, the inert ingredients, were changed.
One would think this wouldn't matter too much, but unfortunately, it appears to have changed the manner in which the drug is absorbed for many people, causing a reduction in effectiveness. There are tons of anecdotes out there on this (I did a Google search on the web yesterday and put in Nardil Pfizer and the first one then came up had some informative ones), and people have complained both to Pfizer and the government. I'm not aware at this point of any intent by Pfizer to return to the original formula, particularly since the pills are now being made in France.
So how good is the stuff? It's still a very effective antidepressant and is particularly good on anxiety and social phobia. Just considering the antidepressant class, it probably still is the best one for social phobia, but that is just my opinion. I am taking 90 mg/day, which is the traditonal maximum dose, and have found it to be clearly superior to any other med I've tried (about 10) for social phobia. However, it seems that I may not be at the optimum therapeutic level, but rather, right on the edge of it, and I've made an appointment with my pdoc to inquire about going up to 105 mg/day, which I am sure he will let me do. I've seen one person who has looked into this estimate that the new version is perhaps only 60-70% as effective as the old, and it also seems like more people are going up to 120 mg/day. In my mind, perhaps 120 should be tentatively considered as a new maximum, but my opinion may change on that depending on how I do at 105.
Todd
poster:King Vultan
thread:360564
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040621/msgs/360655.html