Alinia (Nitazoxanide) Sources

[mike716]

Hi, fellow medhelpers! At the risk of becoming a pest and annoying those who don't love me (yes, such people do seem to exist and they're not all doctors, I fear), I'm posting again. However, this is not a "give me" post, but a "giving back" post.

I spent some time recently searching for info on and sources of Alinia (one brand name), or nitazoxanide (the chemical name). I thought I'd share some of the information with you.

First, names. Nitazoxanide comes in so many different brand names that I can only list a few. Alinia was the first, and is the drug name given to nitazoxanide by its discoverer, Dr. Jean-Francois Rossignol, who works at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. The Pasteur Institute is where the AIDS virus was first isolated and identified (despite claims to the contrary by certain less-than-forthright persons at the National Institute of Health in Washington). Dr. Rossignol is part of a company called Romark Laboratories, in Tampa, Florida, which manufactures Alinia and is running the current trials for its use as an adjunct therapy with SOC.

Romark has licensed certain other manufacturers to produce nitazoxanide. These are the less-expensive equivalents that can be found, for example, in Europe and Canada and a few other places that still respect patents and copyrights. In places that don't, nitazoxanide is produced by a plethora of small-ish pharmaceutical companies under a myriad of brand names. A few of them are: Daxon, Dexidex, Pacovanton, Paramix, Nitax, Zox, Nitazox, Toza, Zóntricon, Celectan, Nixoran, Dexidex, Kidonax, Nitanid, Colufase, Nodik, Paraxin, Rosanil, Nitaxom, Noxolin, Uniplus7, Nitaxin, Nitapax, Zoxanid, Nitarid, Bionit, Rosanil, Parsenida, Zotanixin.

Who thinks up all these silly names? It makes you wonder...

Anyway, these are all nitazoxanide, or pretend to be. The ones that are manufactured in places where there isn't much control over pharmaceuticals might not be exactly the same formula as the nitazoxanide used in Alinia. On the other hand, it isn't a very complex chemical so there's really not much point in them using anything else (unless it's sugar or talc).

One point about the chemical contents that could be important, though, is that Romark appears to be using a time-release formulation of nitazoxanide in the Alinia used in their trials. I sincerely doubt that any of these other nitazoxanides are time-release.

Prices vary widely, as one would imagine. And since the Internet has spawned huge industries of online wholesalers, retailers, and geographically-unidentifiable resellers of everything under the sun including pharmaceuticals, there are places (I use this term in its broadest virtual sense) where you can buy nitazoxanide, or something that looks very much like it, for a small fraction of what the name brand companies sell it for. Here's a list of the ones I've had time to look at, together with price data:

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http://www.wisemeds.net/buy_online/Nitarid.shtml
***@****

Nitarid
Glenmark Ltd.
500mg x 60 Tablets  $55.42  ($0.92/tablet)

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http://www.brandprescriptiondrugs.com/Nitazoxanide.htm   (Int'l comparison site)

Nitarid

Cipla Ltd. (India)

2 x 60 tabs x 500mg  $ 99.65  ($0.83/tablet)
  
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http://www.generics.ws/shopping_carts/show/

(India)

Nizonide
Lupin Pharm.

12 x 2 = 24 for $18.96  =  ($0.79/tablet)

===========================================

OnlinePharmaciesCanada.com

(Canada)

Generic 500mg 60 Tablets $73.79  ($1.23/tablet)

===========================================

http://www.farmasana.com.mx/productos.pdf

(Mexico)

Kidonax

65 pesos = 5USD /bottle of 6 x 500mg   ($0.83/tablet)

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Nitaxin - Qualifarm SA in Guatemala

(Guatemala)

6 tablets x 500mg  69 Quetzals = 8 USD ($1.33/tablet)

Teléfono: 2414 4242
Fax: [phone]
4ta. Avenida 19-33, zona 14
Guatemala, Guatemala

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http://patientindia.com/resultDetails.php?searchC=1&genId=1047&brandId=10880

(India)

NIZONIDE   6  x  ? 45.36   Lupin Laboratories

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http://chemistparadise.com/Nizonide_500_mg-d-32183.html

(India)

Nizonide 500 mg
Name:   Nizonide
Manufacturer:   Lupin Laboratories Ltd. (Pinnacle)
Form:   Tablet
Dosage:   500 mg
Packing:   10
Chemical name:   Nitazoxanide
Price:   3.50 ($1.67/tablet)

Others:

Brand:   Manufacturer:   Dosage:   Price:  

Zimdax DT   US Vitamins Limited   200 mg   2.50
Mehulox   Heal All Pharmaceuticals (P) Ltd.   500mg   3.50
Mehulox DT   Heal All Pharmaceuticals (P) Ltd.   200mg   2.50
Nitacure   Alembic Chemical Works Co Ltd   200mg   3.67
Nitarid   Cipla Limited   500mg   6.25
Nitarid DT   Cipla Limited   200mg   4.42
Nitcol   Rexcel Pharmaceuticals   500mg   5.83
Nitcol DT   Rexcel Pharmaceuticals   200mg   4.17
Zstop   Svizera Healthcare (Sigma Division)   200mg   4.42
Nizonide   Lupin Laboratories Ltd. (Pinnacle)   500 mg   3.50
Nizonide DT   Lupin Laboratories Ltd. (Pinnacle)   200 mg   7.50
Zimdax DT (500 mg)   US Vitamins Limited   500 mg   3.50
Zoxakind   Mankind Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.   500 mg   5.0

Chemical4u Ltd.
26 Parkridge Road
Ward Hill, Mumbai 01835 India
Catalog sales: [phone] or 978-521-6300
Bulk/Specialty Sales: [phone]
***@****
FAX:           [phone]

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http://www.mexmeds4you.com/productdetails.asp?pid=1886

(Mexico)

Nitazoxinide Generic - 500 mg
Package Size: 6 tabs
Price: $10  ($1.67/tablet)

===========================================

http://www.progressiverx.com/store/search.php?mode=search&page=1

(Canada)

Alinia (Nitazoxanide)

60 Pills x 500 mg  $71.99   ($1.20/tablet)

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Whew! There sure is a lot of nitazoxanide around. And it seems to be getting cheaper by the minute.

Now, some of these companies (I use the term loosely) may require a prescription, or say they do. Others don't. Still others make believe they do but give you unusual ways of showing you've got one, like emailing a scan of a prescribed bottle label! People need to investigate these details and deal with them individually (like most other things in this sad, strange world).

I hope this info is of some use. I personally believe that nitazoxanide has been shown to work and that it beats doing SOC alone, especially for us gt1 infectees. Being gt1, 65 years old, and having a high viral load and low platelets, I figure my chances of SVRing with SOC are around 20%. So I'm not going to Tx with just SOC, I'll add nitazoxanide. It makes sense.

Cheers!

Mike

[mike716]

Your link is for a thread from 2007. Kinda old news, no?

Here are three Alinia trial links I was sent a coupla months ago, can't remember by whom:

http://www.kenes.com/easl2010/Posters/Abstract130.htm
http://www.kenes.com/easl2010/Posters/Abstract1.htm
http://www.kenes.com/easl2010/Orals/296.htm

M.

[Cory255]

So far I've only been able to find that it significantly increased sustained response rates for Geno 4's.

Here's a nice link you might want to take a look at.  

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Alinia/show/338944

[mike716]

If you put "Alinia" and/or "nitazoxanide" into the Medhelp search engine, you should come up with a lot of threads and messages containing personal stories and links to studies and websites.

Mike

[Cory255]

Several valued attemtps :) You're husband used Alinia for 16 months, that's a long time.  It sounds as if Joe had a 2 log reduction at the 12 week marker, and didn't clear, is that correct?  Bali is diong very well with his treatment.  Forgot to ask, what genotype was Joe, who told him to take it, and why?  I'm in the process of deciding whether I should take it or not.  I need studies or hard scientific evidence from reliable and trusted websites in order to take it first.  Cory.  

[evangelin]

I will leave the studies for someone else but I can tell you that my husband used Alinia for 16 months on his 3rd TX try.  He predosed one month.  It gave him diarrhea but it only gives that special gift to some people.  I don't know how Joe gets so lucky. :>)
He still did not achieve SVR but he came much closer to it than he ever had prior.  With Alinia, he at least had the 2 log drop in 12 weeks but it wasn't enough of a boost for Joe.  His viral load got stuck in the low 100's and after 15 months, we had to give it up.  If he didn't have cirrhosis, we would nave needed to stop much sooner but we threw everything we had at it and still came up short.  For someone that is more responsive to the interferon than Joe, it might be just the kick you need to get you an SVR.  Bali has taken lots of Alinia and never had the diarrhea issue.  He also has cleared his geno4 early which can also be a hard genotype.  Well, that is my two cents.  I would want to use it if you can get it.  Because of Joe's desperate status, Joe's insurance covered it after Romark sent them a ream of study info they had at the time.  I don't think it has performed well enough to become common protocol but I personally would look for every edge I could get.
Ev

[Cory255]

More than enough sources here to find Alinia.  Great Information.

Would it be helpful to take for a genotype 1 hepatitis c patient?  If so, why and are there any studies or evidence to show this from a reliable website?

Again, thanks for the information Mike.