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There seems to be some confusion about this which I can help to clarify.

The trade name is the name individual drug companies use  to market a =
generic drug.  The generic name of the drug is carbidopa-levodopa which =
is what we PD people need.  It has been marketed as Sinemet(that is its =
trade name) by the Merck Sharp and Dohme company.  MSD had the original =
patent for this drug, so it couldn't be marketed by any other company =
until the patent expired. =20

Here in Australia two other companies have recently started marketing =
carbidopa-levodopa at cheaper prices.  They are called Kinson(marketed =
by drug company Alphapharm) and Sinacarb(marketed by drug company =
Amrad).  Carbidopa-levodopa prescriptions are subsidised by the =
Australian government so that pensioners pay $2-70 for 100 tablets and =
others pay $17-40 (for the same number of tablets).  However if you opt =
for Sinemet rather than one of the other two drugs your pharmacist will =
charge a premium of about $2-00, that's because MSD charge more for =
their brand of Carbidopa-levodopa than the other two companies.  It is =
important to remember that all three brands(Sinemet, Kinson and =
Sinacarb) are exactly the same generic drug carbidopa-levodopa.  And by =
the way Sinacarb 100/25 and Kinson 100/25 even look like =
Sinemet100/25(yellow oval shaped tablet).  One more slighly confusing =
thing to note is that there is no 100/10 or 250/25 strength of Kinson. =20

Hope this is clear

Seamus Tuohy
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