It may comfort some here to know that Prozac, a brand name perscription drug costing upwards of $2.50 a day for use now has a generic substitute going for about $0.25 a day. I have been on the generic for several months now and I find it just as effective. 
Some people will be happy to hear the news, but Eli Lilly’s shareholders may need to be medicated.
I don’t see a question here, so I’ll move this thread to MPSIMS.
It would be swell to know what this magical cheap generic is…I’ve been on generic Prozac (fluoxetine) since last August, and the least expensive generic I’ve found is still over $2/pill for 20 mg. Got any other information?
Any more information?
Yes, try again. When the formula for Prozac first ran out of patent rights, the only other generic available was still quite expensive. Now, however there are MUCH cheaper ones available.
They consist of the same formula as the non-generic brand of course, which is why they work exactly the same. Oddly, my pills now have the consistency and appearance of aspirin, rather than being little green and white caplets.
My prescription now costs approximately half of what it used to. Check it out.
L
Funny, I thought fluoxetine was generic Prozac. I’m all confused now. I guess it don’t matter too much because Valkyrie’s insurance has a $10 co-pay on the meds, so it’s cheap for me no matter how you slice it.
I only been on it for a month - 20 mg - but god damn, I wish I’d gotten on this stuff sooner.
Yeah, sometimes I think they should put it in the water!
Seriously, there’s a lot of information about how anti-depressants are overprescribed, and I’m sure there are. But it’s the most amazing thing to me that I can be essentially non-functional (unable to work, etc.) and Prozac turns that around for me like magic. Amazing stuff, huh?
L
Yeah, SexyWriter, I was kinda reticent about it myself, knowing what little I did about how everybody thought it was overprescribed. But this was my choice, based on things about myself I’d known for a while. That, to me, is the key - being active in the process, rather than just passively accepting whatever the doctor thinks you ought to have.
Just to add a little background information, the generic is now available as a result of a big patent litigation between Barr Labs and Eli Lily. Lily argued that it had patent protection until December 2003. They lost at trial and on appeal and the Supreme Court decided not to hear Lily’s appeal.
Fluoxetine is the drug’s chemical name, Prozac the brand name. The process for making the chemical was patented under Lilly until last August.
Now that the chemical is no longer patent protected, generic companies can make it, but they’ll have to give it a different brand name, or just sell it as no-name fluoxetine.
Always with the making sense. This is MPSIMS, dammit! Take the real answers to GQ. 
I’m still interested in where the OP is finding fluoxetine for 25 cents a day. I’ve called AND looked online, and the least expensive non-bulk proce I can find is STILL just over $2.00/day, unless I jump through about 80,000 hoops to get it from another country.
I dislike the implication that I haven’t looked around since August for less expensive medication. I don’t have medical insurance and we live paycheck to paycheck, so it’s not like I don’t have a vested interest in finding a less expensive way to keep myself medicated.
Sorry, my bad.
Um, lessee…, you said “funny, I thought fluoxetine was generic Prozac,” so I’ll respond…
Ok, how’s this:
Tony Prozac was born “Anthony Fluoxetine,” but his agent felt that he needed something more “upbeat” if he wanted to hit the big time. After the name change, Prozac landed starmaking roles in the critically acclaimed It costs how much? and I’m Having Trouble Waking Up in the Morning, Doc.
No wait, that seems more like Cafe Society, doesn’t it? Gimme a few, I’ll work on it…
Actually, I’d like to know too. I can’t get it for .25 per day.
I can, however, get it for about $1/day, which is a huge price break from the previous $80/month. I simply pick it up at my local pharmacy…no ordering from overseas or other tricks necessary. All I did was ask for the generic when they filled my script. I suppose if you’ve called the local pharmacies and they don’t carry the generic, the next step is to try demanding that the START carrying it.
L
Another thing you might want to try is asking for “Serafem,” which is marketed as a drug for PMS. Essentially, it’s Prozac as a pink tablet.
Hell, I’ve never even seen Eli Lilly’s product, but I’m a big fan of Gen-fluoxetine, manufactured by Genpharm of Toronto.
DPWhite, you pay $0.25 a day?
Get your butt up here to the Great White North, where the dynamic duo of our Socialized Healthcare and traditional disregard for the patent-rights of foreign pharmaceutical companies has me paying… uh, let’s see… <tap tap tap>- - carry the zero… ummm… Oh, right: Absolutely nothing for Fluoxetine hydrochloride. That alone makes me feel better. Of course, our “Liberal” government is decimating our health-care system, along with just about everything else this country has going for it, so the party may soon be over. But I’m not depressed about it. Just really, really angry. As it should be.