Do They Still Make Fastin Or Generic Equivalents?

Anon asked

Do they still make Fastin or is there an equivalent to it? Doctors, clinics and pharmacies have assured me through the years that it makes no difference what form phentermine comes in. I've even had pharmacists and medical clinics assure me that it ONLY comes as Adipex at 37.5 mg. I've assured them differently, explaining my experience with Fastin and generic Fastin, which metabolizes completely differently and does not give me anxiety (the powder-in-capsule or tablet forms do).

Answer

Fastin is a brand name prescription drug product containing 30 mg of phentermine in bead-filled capsules. It was originally approved in 1982. It has been discontinued and is no longer available on the market, as listed on the FDA website:

As a side note, Fastin (a prescription product that is discontinued) is not to be confused with the over the counter dietary supplement, Fastin, manufactured by Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals.

Adipex-P, which you listed in your question, is also phentermine but comes in a strength of 37.5 mg. In fact, phentermine is available in a variety of strengths:

• 15 mg
• 18.75 mg
• 30 mg
• 37.5 mg

Now, there are generic phentermine products in a 30 mg strength that contain beads, but technically, none are considered generic equivalents to Fastin. I discuss this more below.

Generic Equivalency

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) determines whether or not a generic drug is a 'therapeutic equivalent' to a brand name drug. In addition to the generic drug having to be the same dosage form, strength, etc... it must also show 'bioequivalence', meaning it must have the same rate and extent of absorption (within a statistical margin of error) as the brand name drug.

The full determination of a therapeutic equivalent generic product per is the FDA is as follows:

To successfully develop and manufacture a generic drug product, an applicant should consider that their product is expected to be:
Pharmaceutically equivalent to its reference listed drug (RLD), i.e., to have the same active ingredient, dosage form, strength, and route of administration under the same conditions of use;

Bioequivalent to the RLD [Reference List Drug], i.e., to show no significant difference in the rate and extent of absorption of the active pharmaceutical ingredient; and,

Consequently, therapeutically equivalent, i.e., to be substitutable for the RLD with the expectation that the generic product will have the same safety and efficacy as its reference listed drug.

The FDA has a publication known as the 'Orange Book', or 'Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations' that lists all brand and generic drug products as well as whether or not a specific product has a 'therapeutic equivalent'.

For an example of a drug with therapeutic equivalents, take Lipitor. Lipitor has a number of approved generics that are considered 'Therapeutic Equivalents', as shown below:

TE Code stands for 'Therapeutic Equivalent Code'. Any generic atorvastatin calcium product that is listed as 'AB', is considered a therapeutic equivalent to the brand name Lipitor and can be legally substituted.

Going back to Fastin, since it is discontinued, it is not even assigned a TE code, so technically, has no legally substitutable generic product.

Since there are no equivalent products, it is unlikely you will find one that works in the exact same manner as Fastin in regard to the rate and extent of absorption (which of course can greatly affect how you react to the drug).

Nevertheless, as mentioned, there are phentermine 30 mg products available on the market that contain beads, and I discuss some products below that are most comparable to the brand name Fastin.

Comparable To Fastin

Unlike most phentermine capsule product, Fastin contained beads, not a just a dry powder:

Most phentermine 30mg products don't contain beads, but a powder instead, so its important to know which ones are which when speaking with your pharmacy about availability.

Additionally, Fastin only contains three ingredients (one active, two inactive):

• Phentermine Hydrochloride 30 mg
• FD&C Blue No. 1
• Sucrose

After doing a little research, there are a few products that do come as 'beads' (not as a powder) but there, unfortunately, aren't any with the same ingredient list.

Below is a list of phentermine 30 mg products that come as 'beads' (Each manufacturer name is a link to the DailyMed website and associated information):

Phentermine 30 mg (KVK-Tech, Inc)

NDC: 10702-028-03

Bead-filled capsules containing:

• 30 mg Phentermine hydrochloride (equivalent to 24 mg Phentermine)
• Corn starch
• Sucrose
• Hypromellose
• Povidone
• Talc
• FD&C blue #1/Brilliant blue
• FCF Aluminum Lak
• FD&C red #28
• Gelatin

Phentermine 30 mg (Lannett)

NDC: 0527-1438-01

Bead-filled capsules containing:

• 1-Butanol Corn Starch
• D&C Red No. 28
• D&C Yellow No. 10
• FD&C Blue No. 1
• FD&C Blue No. 2
• FD&C Red No. 40
• Ferric Oxide
• Gelatin
• Lactose
• Magnesium Stearate
• Propylene Glycol
• SDA-3 alcohol
• Shellac

Phentermine 30 mg (PD-Rx Pharmaceuticals)

NDC: 55289-624-30

Bead-filled capsules containing:

• Corn Starch
• D&C Red No. 28
• FD&C Blue No. 1
• Gelatin
• Povidone
• Silicon Dioxide
• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
• Sucrose

Phentermine 30 mg (Sandoz)

NDC: 0185-5000-01

Bead-filled capsules containing:

• Corn Starch
• D&C Red No. 28
• FD&C Blue No. 1
• Gelatin
• Povidone
• Silicon Dioxide
• Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
• Sucrose

Although all of the above products are listed as 'available' per the FDA, that doesn't necessarily mean they available to your pharmacy or aren't experiencing manufacturing delays.

I recommend going through the products I listed above and checking their associated DailyMed site. For each drug, under 'How Supplied', there will be a list of 'NDC' codes which can be checked by your pharmacy to see if they are able to be ordered.

I listed one NDC for each, but there are different pack sizes available for most of them (e.g. 30 capsules per bottles, 100 capsules per bottle, etc...). It is possible that only a certain pack size is available so it would be good to have them all handy.