HEALTH - Lipitor Goes Generic

"As Lipitor's Patent Expires, Is Era of 'Blockbuster Drugs' Over?" PBS Newshour 11/30/2011

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): ......, a blockbuster drug goes generic, and patients, doctors and the pharmaceutical industry all have an interest.

Margaret Warner has the story.

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): It's been the most profitable prescription drug in history, with many millions of people taking it over the last 14 years.

But, today, Lipitor, a so-called statin that lowers cholesterol levels, lost its patent protection, opening the door to low-cost generics. Lipitor accounted for more than $10 billion in worldwide sales last year for its manufacturer, Pfizer, and more than $130 billion over the patent's life. It's the first of several blockbuster drugs due to lose their patents in the next year.

Another excerpt

MARGARET WARNER: Now, Pfizer, though, is fighting back against generic competitors.

DR. JERRY AVORN, Harvard Medical School: Yes, they are.

It's really kind of like trying to hold back the tide, because, in six months, because of a variety of legal reasons, there will be many generic manufacturers. And, at that point, Pfizer can't keep fighting them all back.

I think what it's trying to do is just preserve whatever franchise it can in the waning months of its availability on the market. And, frankly, I would rather that all of that enormous creativity that they're showing in ways of dealing with this legally and through deals and economically were being spent on developing new products, rather than trying to figure out other ways to get people not to use the generic.

MARGARET WARNER: But explain what they're trying to do. It's quite a novel approach.

DR. JERRY AVORN: It involves arranging deals with prescription benefit management companies to not make the generic available. It involves making coupons available to patients to bring down the co-pay to get them to stay on Lipitor, as opposed to the generic.

It involves a variety of kind of side deals with insurers, with druggists, with anybody who's a player to try to desperately hang on to a couple more months of Lipitor use.

MARGARET WARNER: Now, is there not a debate about whether generics are -- quote -- "as good" or at least as reliably good as the brand name manufacturer, or do you consider that a settled point?

DR. JERRY AVORN: It's not subtle. And it should not be a debate. And it should not have been a debate for decades.

Generics are every bit as good as the brand name drugs. There's a lot of disinformation that gets spewed out there. It's not scientifically accurate information. All the data we have is that generics are every bit as good as the brand name products. They're held to the same high standards by FDA. They contain the exact same molecules in the exact same strength.

And I really wish that that old canard about generics don't work as well could be put to bed, because it hasn't been true, and it isn't true.

See, $Big-Pharma operating on greed. Anything (lie, cheat, back-door deals, etc) to make MORE money.