Nucynta vs. its authorized generic and generics

Strength How many

How to pay the least

Ask for the cash price

Generic tapentadol

No pharmacy we check posts a price for tapentadol, 30 tablets.

Ask your pharmacy for the cash price of generic tapentadol.Find pharmacies near you
Ask one or two other pharmacies too. Cash prices for the same generic can differ a lot from store to store.

A regular generic has the same active ingredient as Nucynta, and the FDA requires it to work the same way.

Compare every option

Brand nameNucynta

Authorized generictapentadol

Regular generictapentadol

What you’d pay

Cash priceAsk the pharmacyUsually the highest price

Cash priceAsk the pharmacyUsually among the lowest

Same as Nucynta?

The original

Same medicine

Same active ingredientFillers and dyes can differ

Brand nameThe maker’s card

Nucynta’s maker has a savings card that lowers what you pay at the pharmacy.

NUCYNTA ER/NUCYNTA Savings Card

Savings card from Collegium Pharmaceutical

No insuranceNeeds insuranceNo cash price listed.

Insurance · as little as $35 a prescription

In the maker’s words

“Most eligible commercially insured patients may pay as little as $35 [up to the maximum benefit specified on the back of the card] for NUCYNTA ER or NUCYNTA tablets.”

From the maker’s offer on nucynta.com, checked November 2, 2026. Co-pay cards can’t be used with Medicare (including Medicare Advantage), Medicaid, TRICARE or VA.

Authorized genericThe NDC to ask for

The same medicine as Nucynta, without the brand name. Give the pharmacy its NDC to get it.

tapentadol

Sold by

Hikma PharmaceuticalsMade by Collegium Pharmaceutical, the company behind Nucynta

Your strength

NDC to ask for

50 mgtablet
- 0054-0942-2511-digit: 00054-0942-25100 tablets per bottle
75 mgtablet
- 0054-0943-2511-digit: 00054-0943-25100 tablets per bottle
100 mgtablet
- 0054-0945-2511-digit: 00054-0945-25100 tablets per bottle

Source: FDA, updated October 30, 2026

What to say at the pharmacy

“Before you fill my Nucynta, can you tell me what I’d pay for the brand, for the authorized generic from Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and for a regular generic?”

Paying cash? Ask for each one’s cash price. With insurance, ask what your plan charges for each.

Brand and authorized generic labels

Official labels and ingredient lists from DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine).

50 mg tablet

Same active and inactive ingredients as Nucynta.

Authorized generic package label from Hikma Pharmaceuticals — Authorized genericHikma Pharmaceuticals

See the ingredients

Active: tapentadol hydrochloride 50 mg

Inactive, on both labels:

Aluminum oxide
Croscarmellose sodium
Lactose monohydrate
Magnesium stearate
Microcrystalline cellulose
Polyethylene glycol
Polyvinyl alcohol
Povidone
Talc
Titanium dioxide

75 mg tablet

Same active and inactive ingredients as Nucynta.

See the ingredients

Active: tapentadol hydrochloride 75 mg

Inactive, on both labels:

Aluminum oxide
Croscarmellose sodium
Lactose monohydrate
Magnesium stearate
Microcrystalline cellulose
Polyethylene glycol
Polyvinyl alcohol
Povidone
Talc
Titanium dioxide

100 mg tablet

Same active and inactive ingredients as Nucynta.

See the ingredients

Active: tapentadol hydrochloride 100 mg

Inactive, on both labels:

Aluminum oxide
Croscarmellose sodium
Lactose monohydrate
Magnesium stearate
Microcrystalline cellulose
Polyethylene glycol
Polyvinyl alcohol
Povidone
Talc
Titanium dioxide

Regular genericWho makes it

2 companies sell a generic of Nucynta that the FDA rates a substitute. A pharmacy fills whichever one it stocks. To get a certain maker, ask for it by name; most pharmacies can order it in a day or two.

Epic PharmaAll 3 strengths

Has dyes: D&C Yellow No. 10, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 6

Product page on epic-pharma.com

How it looks, what’s in it, NDCs

50 mg BEIGE, round, 7 mm, marked “50”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 42806-626-01

75 mg Orange, round, 8 mm, marked “75”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 42806-627-01

100 mg Orange, round, 9 mm, marked “100”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 42806-628-01

Inactive ingredients: silicon dioxide, copovidone k25-31, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol 4000, polyvinyl alcohol, talc, titanium dioxide, caramel, D&C Yellow No. 10, FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 6
FDA label
Novadoz PharmaceuticalsAll 3 strengths

Has lactose · Made by MSN Laboratories

Product page on novadozpharma.com

How it looks, what’s in it, NDCs

50 mg Pink, round, 7 mm, marked “T / 25”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 72205-369-91

75 mg Pink, round, 8 mm, marked “T / 26”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 72205-370-91

100 mg Pink, round, 9 mm, marked “T / 27”

Package NDC
Bottle of 100 72205-371-91

Inactive ingredients: microcrystalline cellulose 101, lactose monohydrate, croscarmellose sodium, povidone k30, microcrystalline cellulose 102, magnesium stearate, polyvinyl alcohol, titanium dioxide, polyethylene glycol 3350, talc, ferric oxide red
FDA label

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	42806-626-01

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	42806-627-01

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	42806-628-01

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	72205-369-91

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	72205-370-91

Package	NDC
Bottle of 100	72205-371-91

Who sells it: FDA and Medicaid records, updated weekly. Each maker’s page, card and program is from its own site.

What it’s used for

Severe short-term pain that needs an opioid

What the FDA label says

NUCYNTA tablets are an opioid analgesic indicated for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic and for which alternative treatments are inadequate in adults and pediatric patients aged 6 years and older with a body weight of at least 40 kg.

Limitations of Use Because of the risks of addiction, abuse, misuse, overdose, and death, which can occur at any dosage or duration, and persist over the course of therapy, reserve opioid analgesics, including NUCYNTA tablets for use in patients for whom alternative treatment options are

ineffective, not tolerated, or would be otherwise inadequate to provide sufficient management of pain.

Source: the FDA label for Nucynta (Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc.), December 30, 2025. Full label on DailyMed

Good to know

It may look different from Nucynta (color, shape, or markings). That’s normal for an authorized generic.
If your prescription says “dispense as written,” the pharmacy needs your prescriber’s OK to give you the authorized generic.
Cash prices can differ a lot from one pharmacy to the next, so it can pay to ask two. With insurance, what you pay depends on your plan.
Don’t stop or change a medicine without talking to your pharmacist or prescriber.

Prices checked November 2, 2026. Prices change: confirm with the pharmacy before you fill. drugalt.com/drug/nucynta/