<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I am going through a nightmare with my generic prescription meds. My
insurance requires me to use one giant retail/mail order pharmacy and my
insurance will not pay for any brand name medication, for any reason if
there is a generic version. When I go to the local retail pharmacy, and I
ask the pharmacist if my generic med is GF, the pharmacist hands me the
package insert from the medication and says, "here's the list of
ingredients so you can read it to find out it it is GF." I know that is not
a reliable indicator of whether a medication is gluten-free so sometimes I
can check this website http://glutenfreedrugs.com/
<http://glutenfreedrugs.com/> to
verify if a med is gluten free. If I cannot find the information at that
website, as far as I know, the only other way to verify if a generic
medication is gluten free is to do the following:

1. Contact your pharmacy to get the name and phone number of the
manufacturer of the medication as well as the exact name of the medication
for that dosage level and the NDC, National Drug Code which is a unique
identifier for every single prescription drug (it is like a social security
number for medications). This is important because in these giant
manufacturing companies, there can be different ingredients used at
different plant locations. That is why you must have the NDC. (I learned
this in a call to one of these manufacturers last week.)
2. Call the drug manufacturer to find out if that medication is
gluten-free. If it is gluten free, go ahead and get your prescription
filled.
3. If the medication carried by your pharmacy is not gluten-free, I can ask
my pharmacy what other manufacturers make the same generic medication, and
ask for the phone numbers so I can verify whether the medication is gluten
free. OR, I can do a search on the Daily Med website at:
http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/about.cfm  and find out what other
companies manufacture that same generic medication and call them during
regular business hours in their time zone.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what can be done if my pharmacy does
not carry a gluten-free generic medication to fill my prescription? I am at
a loss about what to do at this point. Any
suggestions/references/contacts/organizations about my options as a
consumer with celiac disease who cannot obtain gf medications?

Do any large pharmacies have a system in place to deal with/identify
gluten-free generic drugs? How are food allergies handled by large
pharmacies?
Thanks,
Carolyn

Visit the Celiac Web Page at Http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC