kirkland minoxidil

[BostonHawk]

so I've been using kirkland minoxidil that my mom got me at costco. Its rediculously cheap so I don't feel bad using a lot when I apply it. However, besides the name, why is it cheaper? Has anyone had any experience with it? It seems to be working, theres a million small little hairs on my head, but I don't know if they'll grow into visible hairs and this stuff greases up my hair and I can't set it properly before school. You know, when your thinning out it takes a while to get it right. 8)

 

[mvpsoft]

It's cheaper because it doesn't have the brand name "Rogaine." But it's exactly the same thing as Rogaine. In fact, it's manufactured by Pfizer, the manufacturer of Rogaine. When you buy Rogaine, you pay more for the brand name, that's all.

 

[BostonHawk]

if it is made by pfizer wouldn't they have an invested interest in not making it as good if they are going to make less profit than brandname "Rogaine"?

 

[KevinW]

volume?

 

[BostonHawk]

I'm pretty sure they sell more brand name rogaine than kirkland. And even if they sell more kirkland, they have to invest in more capital to mass produce the kirkland so they'd still be losing marginal profit. (if that makes sense)

 

[Guest]

if it is made by pfizer wouldn't they have an invested interest in not making it as good if they are going to make less profit than brandname "Rogaine"?

There was that photo floating around a while back of shipment of Kirkland coming off a truck with 'manufactured by Pfizer' on the side of the boxes, someone might still have a jpeg of it??

Once Johnson & Johnson has tied up the 'respected brand' side of the minoxidil market with Rogaine, there is still money to be made in the generics market. There will always be a market for cheaper generics, this will not go away, so why let this market go to a rival company?

 

[dr spock]

It's cheaper because it doesn't have the brand name "Rogaine." But it's exactly the same thing as Rogaine. In fact, it's manufactured by Pfizer, the manufacturer of Rogaine. When you buy Rogaine, you pay more for the brand name, that's all.

i guess that would explain why the packaging is almost identical between the 2 products. except for the substitiution of the name "rogaine" and "kirkland signature". thats good to know

 

[BostonHawk]

what about cvs brand

I just ran out of kirkland, I think i might buy the cheap cvs stuff. Any experience?

 

[mvpsoft]

Pfizer owns the Rogaine brand and patent, not J&J.

Once a patent runs out, anyone can produce a generic version of a drug. So someone was going to produce a generic version of Minoxidil. Pfizer already had the channel locked up, so their choice was to produce the generic themselves, or lose that portion of the market to someone else. They naturally chose to take the generic portion of the market themselves, and the cheapest way to do that is to simply put Rogaine into generic bottles and packaging, and not spend a lot of dollars designing new versions of either. Some people will pay for the brand name, that's the way it works. But this way Pfizer still controls the shelf space and makes a profit either way, instead of giving up the generic profits to someone else.

Product cost is not about the cost of manufacturing, it is about what people are willing to pay. Those who want to pay for the brand name do so, those who don't, Pfizer still gets the money they are willing to pay.

 

[Troymaclure]

i don't care what anyone says though, Kirkland is definitely greasier than Rogaine, and causes me more irritation. I rotate the two different kinds to save costs, and i hate using Kirkland but Rogaine i have no problems with...Kirkland seems greasier and causes me more irritation....point being i'm sure there must be *some* kind of difference between the two?

 

[Guest]

i don't care what anyone says though, Kirkland is definitely greasier than Rogaine, and causes me more irritation. I rotate the two different kinds to save costs, and i hate using Kirkland but Rogaine i have no problems with...Kirkland seems greasier and causes me more irritation....point being i'm sure there must be *some* kind of difference between the two?

Definitely is a diffirence between the two, dont give a sh*t who disagrees. Kirkland takes a lot longer to dry than rogaine. I think it must have more PPG or uses cheaper ingrediants.

 

[Nixon's Head]

The FDA HIGHLY regulates the makers of generic drugs. No variation is allowed. If it had any difference in the ingredience it would clearly state (for example the % ppg etc) on the side. No way would it was 50% PPG on the side and it have 55% actually in the bottle. That is just not how it is done. In fact it is a crime not to comply with FDA label regulations. Also, there are only a few bulk chemical makers world wide and none of them would be willing to put their reputation on the line by making inferior PPG for a company looking to cut corners and costs. Besides, it would be exspensive to change the machinerie etc. to make the high quality PPG and then switch to make a small batch of lower quallity PPG etc. im sure they just set it up and run the machines (making the standard quallity product)