Acyclovir, why are they white pills now?
Question:
Answers:
There is more than one maker of that medication and they will not all look alike.
When a drug is also made by another company, that is a generic version of it. They are less expensive than the brand version but are the same. Generic medications must fall under the same strict FDA protocols for that medication.
For instance...let's use Tegretol. Tegretol is an anti-seizure medication. The brand version of the drug is manufactured by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. There are several generic versions available, one is made by Caraco Pharmaceuticals. It is the same drug. However, the version made by Caraco is called carbamazepine...which is the drug's chemical name. The name Tegretol is copyrighted by Novartis so any other makers of this medication will have to use the chemical name.
What you received is a generic version of Zovirax...acyclovir is the drug's chemical name. The name Zovirax is copyrighted by the original manufacturers of Zovirax.
Does all this make sense to you? I hope I answered your question.
EMT
There are some medications that there is no generic version for. Insulin is one. In cases like that, you would receive the brand version because there is no generic version available.
There are several different companies that make aciclovir tablets.
Some of them put colouring into the pills and some don't. Don't worry, the pills all contain the same active ingredient, no matter what color the manufacturers dye the pills.
Aciclovir will work equally well whether it's in a blue pill, a green one, a white one or one with polka dots.
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