The purity of Lucidias-brand Dasatinib
Last year I obtained a 60-tablet bottle of 50 mg Lucidias-brand Dasatinib from BonHoa Pharmacy in New Deli, India, link https://www.bonhoa.com. It seems to be manufactured by Lucius Pharmaceuticals of Columbo, Siri Lanka.
There has been some concern about the purity of such a generic pharmaceutical obtained abroad, as an end-tun around the rapacious prices charged by Bristol Meyers-Squibb for their Sprycel-brand of Dasatinib.
I recently contributed one of my Lucidias-brand 50 mg Dasatinib tablets for testing, and the Gerontology Research Group funded a chromatogram test of it by Echelon Biosciences. The test result shows a large peak at the molecular weight of Dasatinib, as expected for a pure product. There is also a much smaller peak (<0.05%) at a slightly higher molecular weight. This might represent a slight impurity, but according to the lab it shouldn't be a problem.
Thus, we have verified that Lucidias-brand Dasatinib seems to be completely equivalent to the much more expensive Sprycel product.
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JGC, thanks for sharing the findings. I, and others, have taken Lucidas dasatinib, so the assay results are reassuring (though one wonders what the impurity might be...).
IAS is currently working on compounding a version that will by only a bit more expensive than Lucidas, but – I'm quite certain – will be a more reliably high-quality product. There will be an announcement here when it is available.
Brian
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BrianMDelaney
Hi Brian, any update on the compounding version?
Has anyone gotten any yet?
thanks!
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BobM Hello Bob! I believe IAS will have an excellent, affordable version available in a matter of weeks. I will let them reply with details.
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BobM there’s a thread on a compound version out of a Florida clinic that I’m coordinating. The ingredients are going through customs and it should be ready in a few weeks
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Thank you John and Brian.
I had sent the original reference samples along with dasatinib tablets purchased from various sources to the testing lab, and later facilitated testing of John's tablet.
I strongly suggest you to have anything purchased from an offshore source tested for purity and content. And suggest that testing one pill probably assures the rest in the bottle is OK, and the entire lot is probably OK – but that does not necessarily mean that all future tablets purchased from that source will be pure and contain the indicated content.
If you go the offshore route let me know. I would be glad to facilitate the testing. The lab we use already has the HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography) data for testing samples against a generic (known) quality of dasatinib acquired from Sigma, as well as from a US pharmacy. That up front work is done so cost would be low. Cost for John's was $200, and if that's a problem our group could possibly share in the cost or cover it completely.
Contact info JAdams@grg.org (949)922-9786
We could also have other aging therapies/pharmaceuticals tested.
Years ago I learned counterfeiting is a huge international issue – not just Gucci bags and GI Joes, but pharmaceuticals, airplane parts, etc. It’s probably only grown worse. Appearance and packaging are VERY convincing. A phony Apple store was opened in China with real looking Apple products.
The lab is Echelon Biosciences, and my contact is Mark Nelson at 801-588-0455 ex 308 -- but since I have a working relationship with them and went through a lot of time to locate, screen, and engage their services, I urge you to have me involved.
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Thanks to John and feedback from here, I went ahead and purchased the Lucidas package and have enough to share with two other people.
If you are interested, let me know as I will be attending the Church of perpetual life meeting on the 25th and can allow two people to partner with me.
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Vincent Stona Have you considered submitting a sample of your order to Johnny Adams for testing? Maybe you could split the cost with anyone who shares your order. It would be nice to have more confirmation that Lucidas' product was authentic.
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Iðunn Looks as if JGC already had this product tested by Echelon via JohnnyAdams of GRC. Seems to me duplicative to send one tablet/cap of every batch unless someone should wish to use or should receive a product that does NOT come from Lucius pharmaceuticals.
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Louise B Andrew Of course, as Johnny mentions, there are no guarantees. But if I understood his post, testing cost $200 for JGC That's a bit prohibitive on top of the cost of the med.
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Louise B Andrew I wouldn't assume based on a single test of a single bottle that a given supplier can be relied upon for purity and potency going forward, unless they were an American- or European-domiciled, FDA-licensed facility; I certainly would not put my faith into an Indian supplier on that basis, granted the disaster that is the Indian generic drug industry:
The Generic Drugs You're Taking May Not Be As Safe Or Effective As You Think
(Jump down to "You write a lot about an Indian company called Ranbaxy.")
How Reliable Are Your Generic Drugs From India? - The People's Pharmacy
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Iðunn Well, of course everyone must make their own choice. Pay an additional $200 per script or perhaps per bottle in a large order; or trust that their mfg methods probably do not change that much from one order to the next.
It is by the way an Indian pharmacy (retailer), as noted by the original poster, while the manufacturer is in Sri Lanka. I am hardly ignorant of the sources you cite, but perhaps some readers are, so thanks for citing them. But people are still free to make an informed choice so long as the domestic importation exemption persists.
Hopefully we may have a "domestic" compounding alternative here shortly, but even the medlabpharmacy must obtain raw materials from somewhere, not the US where the costs will predictably be prohibitive. One would surely expect that they will do due diligence on those materials given the current scrutiny exerted on compounding pharmacies.
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Thanks for the update.
This is great news for all!
