What prompted this impromptu short story, no pun intended on the word usage, (but I did grin a little myself) was trying to save a few bucks.  Ok, I know cheap, stingy, frugal, penny-pinching and thrifty comes to mind and I will try and do a self-justification for my efforts.

Filling empty gelatin capsules is nothing new under the sun and health nuts have been filling the capsules with all kind of liquids and powders to try and become more healthy.  Veterinarians do the same thing to treat animals, of which filling a capsule with liquid makes it easier for the animal/pet owner to self administer the appropriate prescribed medication in many cases. 

TRYING TO SAVE A FEW BUCKS

My bride has been taking Lyrica for about fourteen years and while she was in the hospital and the Anson Health and Rehabilitation Facility for close to three (3) months last year, they reduced her dosage of Lyrica from 300 MG twice daily to 100 MG three times a day toward the end of her stay.  I continued to have the 300 MG prescriptions filled prior to the prescription change and had a three month supply on hand which wasn't being used due to the reduction in the dosage. 

To give you an idea of the expense of Lyrica, her co pay for one month was 182 dollars per month after the yearly deductible was met which is now 435 dollars. 

We had earlier tried Pregabalin in tablet form which is the generic for Lyrica, but it wasn't as effective as the Pfizer patented brand Lyrica in her case. 

PFIZER'S LYRICA US PATENT EXPIRED

The good news for consumers is that Pfizer's US Patent for Lyrica expired and I will do a copy and paste from the internet: 

Update (August 22, 2019): Less than a month after the patent expiration, Pfizer is already experiencing a tremendous nosedive in Lyrica sales.  FiercePharma cites figures from consultant company IQVIA: Lyrica lost 35 percent of market share to 16 competitors in the last week of July. This could mark the end of Pfizer’s reign on the nerve pain drug market.

Originally published on July 25, 2019:

The moment that Pfizer has been dreading has finally arrived: the patent on its blockbuster nerve pain drug, Lyrica, has expired. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized nine generic drug companies to make copycats of Lyrica (pregabalin), mere days after the expiration.

Over the past 15 years, Lyrica has been Pfizer’s poster child for treating neuropathic pain.  Initially intended as an anticonvulsant for seizures, it’s since been approved for neuropathic pain stemming from diabetes, spinal cord injury and complications from shingles.  Altogether, international Lyrica sales have generated billions in revenue for Pfizer, as it remained virtually unopposed in the market since 2004.

But as the original end-of-2018 patent expiration date drew nearer, Pfizer quickly completed clinical studies to earn a 6-month extension for pediatric exclusivity, bringing the new patent expiration date to June 30, 2019.  In anticipation of generic competitors, the company began “destocking” Lyrica in the new year, as reported in their Q1 report.

Generic pregabalin approvals were granted to Alembic Pharmaceuticals, Alkem Laboratories, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals, MSN Laboratories Ltd., Rising Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sciegen Pharmaceuticals Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Each company has been given the go-ahead to begin marketing their own 25-300 mg tablets of pregabalin.

According to IMS Health research, the introduction of one generic competitor might not drop the price of a brand-name drug by very much. But if a larger number of generic manufacturers enter the market, patients could expect to see a 20 percent discount off the brand name price.  Currently, Drugs.com reports a $750 price tag on 90 capsules of 25-mg Lyrica, for uninsured patients.

Regulators and healthcare authorities predict that increasing the number of generic drugs in the market will have the effect of lowering the staggering cost of some modern medicines. Part of the FDA’s Drug Competition Action Plan is to identify and eliminate barriers to increasing generic drug competition.  Politicians are also hoping to lower the cost of medicine by incentivizing doctors to prescribe non-brand name drugs.

Pfizer might face a temporary setback, but they’re making up for it with the launch of their own oncology biosimilar to Biogen and Genentech’s Rituximab as well as an expansion of their rare disease portfolio.

NOTE:  Pfizer applied for a repurpose patent for Lyrica and was denied!  Helped my wallet for sure.

My bride has been using the copy cat of Lyrica aka Pregabalin manufactured by Rising Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since November 2019 and it is working great for her since it is the same as the original Pfizer branded Lyrica.  In fact, Pfizer has its own Pregabalin with it's logo on the capsules.

BACK TO SAVING A FEW BUCKS

I did several searches if it was feasible to open the Lyrica capsule and reduce the amount from 300 MG to 100 MG and got mixed results.  Naturally, a pharmacy does not recommend you do that; wonder why?  It more or less depends on the particular drug compound composition and many other factors not to bore you with!  I decided to give it a try and the Pfizer brand capsules were easy to open and after doing some conversions using my electronic scales I used for checking the weight of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition components, of which the Hornady scale is very accurate, I was able to find the volume needed for 100 MG.  I saved most of the extra 200 MG from each capsule and my bride has not noticed any difference between the 100 MG capsules that were 300 MG versus the Rising Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 100 MG capsules.  The ole saying, "The proof is in the taste of the pudding" and that applies here!

I did a few YouTube video searches and watched people loading the capsules manually and with a manual loading machine where you could load 100 capsules at a time.  However, they were loading a size 00 empty capsule (holds about 750 MG) with the device and I need to load a size 2 capsule which will hold 200 MG, of which I could easily load one half that amount using the cap of the capsule for volume reference.

It was time consuming to reduce the Lyrica capsules from 300 MG to 100 MG and after viewing the videos on a manual loading machine, I decided to build a much simpler version using wood components; e.g., holder for the cap portion of the capsule which would give me about 100 MG when filled level. 

BUILDING THE CAP HOLDER

I used a piece of scrap aka unallocated treated pine decking board and did a quick pencil layout, center punched the holes and then went to the small table top drill press.

Center punched the wood for the countersink drill bit.

I first drilled a 120 degree countersink hole and then drilled a pilot hole through the board to be able to push the completed filled capsule from the back side of the loading board.  I initially drilled a .250 inch diameter hole just deep enough to where the top of the open cap was flush with the board and later went back and opened each hole diameter about .001 for a little more clearance.  The capsule size was about .250 inches in diameter at the cap end.

I added a strip of curly maple around the perimeter of the filling board and left an opening where the excess Lyrica compound could be transferred back to a storage container.  I applied glue to each maple strip and used the brad nailer to secure it in place.  I had one hole that the board rose up on the drill bit from the drill press table and had to plug it and later go back and re-drill it after the glue dried.

A close up view of one of the capsule caps about to be pushed flush into the board.

The Lyrica compound is poured onto the board and then using a business card, raked the compound into each cap.

The hard part of this process was placing the body of the capsule into the filled cap.  After about half way through the process, my hand eye coordination was getting much better and got some finesse to putting the body into the filled caps.  My left hand worked better than my right!  I crushed at least one capsule body while pressing it in place, but it didn't break and still usable. 

Above is the finished product.  I used a flat nose punch to push the capsules from the board.

Above is pix of a commercial 100 MG Pregabalin capsule manufactured by Rising Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Different manufacturer's empty capsules will vary (weight) from one supplier to the other, but the volume it will hold is fairly constant.

Here is one of the clear 200 MG gelatin capsule filled with 100 MG +- of the Lyrica compound.

I probably have enough Lyrica compound left to do about 300 to 400 more 100 MG capsules. 

NOTE:  I finished up filling approximately 300 capsules on 07-01-2020.

In using the store bought capsule manual filling machine, you place the body of the capsule into the holder and it is easier to place the cap onto the body of the capsule, however I had to use the cap as the reference source for the volume of the compound which came out pretty close to the actual weight of the compound for 100 MG.

This was definitely another fun project SN 86 and it is easy to ascertain that I am retired....grin if you must! 

Web page updated by Bill aka Mickey Porter on 07-01-2020.