I buy the 180 count bottle of Previcox 227 mg tablets. Works out to $0.68 per dose, or $21 per month for a daily 57 mg dose. The Equioxx tablet is more expensive but not horribly so.
From what I have read, the Previcox and Equioxx tabs were being priced comparatively. They are the same pill, at the same 57mg, very likely without beef liver flavor added, but hey, maybe apple flavor was added who knows??!
If they price comparatively, I think vets will be forced to only write RX for the Equioxx going forward. I haven’t seen enough to know but I sort of doubt they will make Equioxx 227mg that consumers can square off in quarters for administration. I think what will happen is people will end up being forced to buy the 57mg Equioxx tabs once the Previocox prescriptions expire.
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8875420]
I buy the 180 count bottle of Previcox 227 mg tablets. Works out to $0.68 per dose, or $21 per month for a daily 57 mg dose. The Equioxx tablet is more expensive but not horribly so.[/QUOTE]
I also get the 227 mg tablets for about $2.25 each, and my gelding gets half, so $1.12 a day or so. A month costs me about $34. But the 60 pill container of 57 mg Equioxx is almost $80 and would also only last me a month. So that’s quite a difference, month after month, unless I am just particularly mathematically challenged this evening.
I think a lot of vets will just continue to prescribe the previcox. And if not, owners will switch to Bute and the manufacturer will end up losing money. After all, they’re making a lot of money off all those previcox prescriptions.
[QUOTE=newhorsemommy;8875880]
I also get the 227 mg tablets for about $2.25 each, and my gelding gets half, so $1.12 a day or so. A month costs me about $34. But the 60 pill container of 57 mg Equioxx is almost $80 and would also only last me a month. So that’s quite a difference, month after month, unless I am just particularly mathematically challenged this evening.
I think a lot of vets will just continue to prescribe the previcox. And if not, owners will switch to Bute and the manufacturer will end up losing money. After all, they’re making a lot of money off all those previcox prescriptions.[/QUOTE]
I saw my farm vet today…she indicated all Previcox rx for the practice will be switched to Equioxx. She stated that as a vet, she will no longer be able to prescribe previcox when there is now an identical equine tablet. The whole reason Merial went through with FDA testing to obtain the Equioxx tab was due to veterinary and consumer demand, so vets are likely going to be compelled to prescribe it. What is the rationale for an equine vet continuing to prescribe previcox? I can’t think of any.
It was already illegal for us to prescribe previcox to a horse since the equioxx paste existed. Legally, it needed to be prescribed to a dog.
I get the previcox under a dog prescription, but I just had this conversation last week with a veterinarian who told me she could prescribe previcox for horses that can’t be pasted (i.e., too violent or feral or unruly). I had never heard of this.
My vet has prescribed Previcox for my horse with an open script at Farmvet. The script clearly states it is for s horse not a dog.
[QUOTE=LarkspurCO;8876212]
I get the previcox under a dog prescription, but I just had this conversation last week with a veterinarian who told me she could prescribe previcox for horses that can’t be pasted (i.e., too violent or feral or unruly). I had never heard of this.[/QUOTE]
The only legal way to prescribe previcox for a horse was to say the paste formulation was not appropriate for that animal. Now with the new tablets that argument goes away. Vets must use the equioxx or be at risk.
[QUOTE=foggybok;8876227]
The only legal way to prescribe previcox for a horse was to say the paste formulation was not appropriate for that animal. Now with the new tablets that argument goes away. Vets must use the equioxx or be at risk.[/QUOTE]
Just goes to show how much power these companies can excert! Previcoxx pills are what we get in Canada for horses and are perfectly legal for vets to prescribe. It just boggles the mind that just because the manufacturer has decided to label one for dogs and one for horses, vets in the USA are now banned from prescribing previcoxx which is used everywhere else.
[QUOTE=eclipse;8876503]
Just goes to show how much power these companies can excert! Previcoxx pills are what we get in Canada for horses and are perfectly legal for vets to prescribe. It just boggles the mind that just because the manufacturer has decided to label one for dogs and one for horses, vets in the USA are now banned from prescribing previcoxx which is used everywhere else.[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure what you are getting at? Previcox pills and Equiox pills are the same drug, different name. We have brand name drugs with different names for different geographies all the time. This is not any different to me.
We all wanted pills of fircoxib for ease of dosing our horses, and to save money over the paste. Merial listened and delivered, and yet now we are complaining? I don’t get it.
[QUOTE=Twigster;8876578]
I’m not sure what you are getting at? Previcox pills and Equiox pills are the same drug, different name. We have brand name drugs with different names for different geographies all the time. This is not any different to me.
We all wanted pills of fircoxib for ease of dosing our horses, and to save money over the paste. Merial listened and delivered, and yet now we are complaining? I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.
[QUOTE=Twigster;8876578]
I’m not sure what you are getting at? Previcox pills and Equiox pills are the same drug, different name. We have brand name drugs with different names for different geographies all the time. This is not any different to me.
We all wanted pills of fircoxib for ease of dosing our horses, and to save money over the paste. Merial listened and delivered, and yet now we are complaining? I don’t get it.[/QUOTE]
But if they are the same drug, just a different name, why in the hell are the Equioxx tablets still more expensive? Just because they have a pretty picture of a horse on the box?
[QUOTE=Gainer;8876683]
But if they are the same drug, just a different name, why in the hell are the Equioxx tablets still more expensive? Just because they have a pretty picture of a horse on the box?[/QUOTE]
Same reason razors with pink packaging cost more than razors with blue packaging.
[QUOTE=Gainer;8876683]
But if they are the same drug, just a different name, why in the hell are the Equioxx tablets still more expensive? Just because they have a pretty picture of a horse on the box?[/QUOTE]
But they’re not? 60 57mg tabs looks to be ~80 bucks for either species.
[QUOTE=Simkie;8876748]
But they’re not? 60 57mg tabs looks to be ~80 bucks for either species.[/QUOTE]
Exactly!
What’s left I guess is the complaint about splitting the 227 mg tablets in quarters, which is already advised against as it leads to inconsistent dosing.
[QUOTE=Gainer;8876683]
But if they are the same drug, just a different name, why in the hell are the Equioxx tablets still more expensive? Just because they have a pretty picture of a horse on the box?[/QUOTE]
ths is exactly what I’m getting at! Why make the “equine” version more expensive and make it illegal to prescribe the other when it’s the exact same medicine!
It sounds like it is the same price for the same dose pills. Of course it sucks that many have been using since 227 mg is way too big of a dose for a horse there is no way they would make those for horses. Sucks that the smaller dose is more expensive though.
Good on Merial for responding to consumer preferences and marketing an equine tablet. The pills were so much easier to administer than the paste. And good on them also for pricing them the same as the dog version.
[QUOTE=Gainer;8876683]
But if they are the same drug, just a different name, why in the hell are the Equioxx tablets still more expensive? Just because they have a pretty picture of a horse on the box?[/QUOTE]
a) because the company that makes them likes to turn as much profit as possible
b) because they went to the trouble and expense of showing the FDA that the pharmacokinetics of the tablet form were comparable to the paste formulation
I still think they’ll end up losing out if vets are forced to switch (and not all vets will), because plenty of people will just go back to bute. The 57mg isn’t sufficient for my horse. I only use the previcox because it’s easier to dose, but I’m not spending an extra $50 or so per month because it’s got a picture of a horse on it. I CAN get bute into him if I have to.
