I was told by my pain management doctor that after getting the Mallinckrodt brand Fentanyl patches for about 3 years that it's now discontinued. Does anybody know for sure whether or not Mallinckrodt Fentanyl Transdermal patches are discontinued? He now gave me this new brand of patches by Apotex Corp. same dose, 100 mcg/hr. However, this patches are horrible!

The patch is extremely huge, like a very large band aid sticker, very thin, and about 3 times larger than the Mallinckrodt 100 mcg/hr patch which in contrast is much smaller and I've never had a problem with it.

Now, with this Apotex Corp patch, it's very hard to put it on the skin because its very huge and thin, and folds up with creases all over the place, and worst part is that it tears up the skin in different places especially at the ends and leaves redness and even bleeding.

I read that this company is from Canada. Bottom line is that I only used 1 box of 5, and never again. I got marks and redness and scrape-like bleeding open sores like carpet burns on the skins, and burns like hell. Patches are supposed to relieve the pain, not cause pain!

Does anyone know for sure whether Mallinckrodt patches are really discontinued, or is my doctor somehow deceiving me by pushing this new Apotex Corp product which came out only in January 2013 a few months ago.

Any help would be appreciated.