Duexis is a prescription medication for adults to relieve symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. It is a combination of the pain reliever ibuprofen and a stomach protectant called famotidine.
But it is a very expensive drug. Horizon Pharma has raised the price about tenfold since it introduced the drug in 2011.
It is a new drug
Duexis is a new drug from Horizon Pharma. It combines the two most common medications in the United States — ibuprofen and famotidine — into one pill that you can take 3 times per day.
But why does it cost so much? That’s because Horizon makes a lot of money off co-pay assistance programs that help insurers and patients pay for the drugs.
Those programs have helped to drive up medical spending nationwide, according to a recent study by Devon Herrick of the Brookings Institution. But Herrick said that “it’s a business model that is ultimately abusing the system.”
That’s why pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as Express Scripts and CVS Health have stopped paying for Duexis and Horizon’s other brand-name combination drug, Vimovo. That’s because they say the co-pay assistance helps drive up the price of these medications, and that it circumvents their goal of encouraging patients to use cheaper generics.
It is a combination of two old drugs
If you are taking Duexis, you probably know that it is a combination of two old drugs, the generic versions of Motrin and Pepcid. That means that if your doctor had prescribed the two medications separately, you would have saved yourself a lot of money.
However, it turns out that Horizon Pharma, the company that makes Duexis, has found a way to keep the cost of its drug sky high.
That is because Duexis combines the two drugs in one pill, and it includes a lot of stomach protectant called famotidine. Famotidine is a histamine H2-receptor blocker that reduces the amount of stomach acid you produce and lowers your risk for ulcers.
Horizon’s Vimovo and Duexis are based on the idea that you could combine NSAIDs with heartburn medicines to prevent gastrointestinal side effects of NSAIDS, which include ulcers. But now there are cheaper NSAIDs, and there are even a handful of over-the-counter heartburn medicines that can work as well or better than these expensive NSAIDS.
It is a patented drug
Duexis is a patented drug that contains two common and inexpensive drugs, ibuprofen and famotidine. The company formulated it to help reduce the number of pills a patient has to take, and it hopes that this will improve compliance.
However, that can also increase the risk of side effects. This includes stomach ulcers and bleeding in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which can be fatal.
The risk of these events can be reduced by limiting the amount of time you take this medication, especially if you are elderly or have a history of heart disease. It is also recommended that you talk to your doctor about alternatives for this drug if you are planning to have heart bypass surgery.
The manufacturer of Duexis, Horizon Pharma, has a patent on the drug that is set to expire in 2026. It has also filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Par Pharmaceutical, which is seeking to launch a generic version of the drug.
It is a prescription drug
Duexis is a prescription drug that contains the pain reliever ibuprofen and the stomach protector famotidine. The two drugs are commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.
The ibuprofen component of Duexis is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that reduces pain and inflammation in the body. The famotidine component of the medication blocks histamine, which is a substance that encourages your stomach to produce more acid.
In patients at high risk for stomach ulcers, taking both the ibuprofen and the famotidine together is thought to help lower their chances of getting ulcers. However, it is not clear how well this combination works.
Horizon Pharma is trying to make the drug more affordable by selling it as a single pill, rather than as two separate pills. The company also has created a savings program to cut out-of-pocket costs. These savings are available to eligible patients who have commercial insurance.