What I don't understand is this:

I have a script for Nal, so I can get it at any pharmacy. I don't have to pay a premium to get it online. That said, it is NOT cheap. It's been awhile since I refilled, but I think it was around $130 for 90 tabs (or more!) - at smaller quantities, it costs more so I always ask my doctor to write a script for 90. I can get 30 tabs of generic Xanax for $7 - now that seems cheap! I wonder why Naltrexone is still so expensive when it is generic? (FYI - I don't have drug coverage in my insurance plan, so it's all out of pocket.)

I also don't understand the statement that there is no money to be made once a drug goes generic. It seems that someone is making at least some money manufacturing and selling Naltrexone. If it really took off, wouldn't the generic manufacturers make more money?

I am not in the pharmaceutical industry, so clearly I don't understand how this works!

I'm no expert but I can say this: if you have a patent, you have exclusive ownership rights to the product and can set any price you like, based upon demand. If you don't have a patent, there are multiple manufacturers which means competition and lower prices. Naltrexone is relatively expensive but it would be far more expensive if one company owned the patent. And if one company had exclusive ownership rights, it would have a huge incentive to market the product. No such incentive exists now when unlimited manufacturers can sell the product.

Huh. With my insurance, nal costs the same as any other drug....7 bucks for a month's supply (whatever my doc deems is a month's supply). Nal IS the generic for Revia in the US, obviously there was a patent and it expired, no?
Anyways, reading this thread kind of worried me about something - someone mentioned that the one danger with nal is the need for liver tests. My doc has me do bloodwork once a year (including liver levels or whatnot) and it was previous to starting tSM, but she hasn't mentioned the need for more tests since then.....is this incorrect???

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Check the book, but it said something about heightened liver enzymes at like 300 mg per day -- or six times what we are taking. Something like that... Naltrexone is very safe when taken at prescribed levels.

I'm with Nick on this one. I don't think there is any evidence that a 50mg dose is going to damage your liver. I'd be more worried about Tylenol damaging my liver or 15 drinks on a Friday night like a did every Friday for 20 years.