Posted on 08/08/2007 5:56:53 PM PDT by neverdem
A quiet coup is taking place in American medicine cabinets. Prescription bottles bearing catchy brand names like Zoloft and Flonase are being pushed aside by tongue-twisting generics like sertraline and fluticasone propionate.
While the trend is already pinching the profits of big pharmaceutical companies, it is rare good medical news for American pocketbooks.
The nation currently spends $275 billion a year on prescription medicines. But over the next five years, analysts forecast a golden era for generic drugs, as patents begin to expire on brand-name medications with more than $60 billion in combined annual sales. That will open the door to copycats that may be 30 percent to 80 percent cheaper.
“There’s a tidal wave of generic drugs, and we are just in the beginning of the tidal wave,” said Laizer Kornwasser, an executive for Medco Health Solutions, which manages prescription drug plans.
The rise of generics has helped slow spending increases for prescription medications over all, even though an aging population is consuming more drugs and even as new medicines enter the market — including cancer drugs costing tens of thousands of dollars.
Ronny Gal, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein who follows generic companies like Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Barr Pharmaceuticals and Mylan Laboratories, predicts 10 to 13 percent annual profit growth in the industry by 2010. He describes the generic trend as “good for everybody but the branded pharmaceutical companies.”
Last week, the big drug maker Johnson & Johnson announced it would eliminate up to 4,800 jobs as it braced for generic competition to its drugs, Risperdal for schizophrenia and Topamax for seizures and migraine headaches.
In the last year, combined United States sales of the drugs were $4 billion.
Shortly after the Johnson & Johnson statement, Sanofi-Aventis announced that it had already been hard hit by low-cost...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Drug prices are down around the world. There is a concept Americans must pay the most to fund R&D as the rest of the world gets a “free” ride.
Also, millions of dollars go to politicians to stop laws designed to destroy yet another American industry and those millions are passed on to us to pay for yet more government.
So far, the Walmart generic plan has worked better for my mom than Medicare. Costco has some good deals too.
Oops. ...neighbor said that’s NasacortAQ now. ...used Flonase in the past. Anyway, the price is outrageous.
Anybody know how long before a generic drug is allowed to be sold? Are drugs covered by “patents”...if so how long do they last?
I use Flonase and now get the generic. My co-pay is only $5. The developer of the drug made TONS of money all those years they had exclusive rights. But the system works well. It's time to let others make it, and for the consumer to save a little.
There is no reason for the developer of a drug in the first instance to not make and sell a drug under its trade name at competitive prices. If the generics can make money why can’t the originator do the same and under the patented name. Why should that be a total loss to the developer?
The story said the patents lasted 20 years. IIRC, effective patent rights last about 17 years due the length of the FDA approval process. Any corrections are appreciated.
Thank you. ...will have my friend check with her doctor and the pharmacist about the generic for Flonase.
Patents issued by the Patent Trademark Office (PTO) grant patent holders the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention. The granting of this exclusive right is designed to encourage innovation. The patent holder is likely to reap greater profits if protected from direct competition. These profits are intended to serve as incentives for creating innovative products that benefit the public.
The Uruguay Rounds Agreements Act (Public Law 103-465), which became effective on June 8, 1995, changed the patent term in the United States. Before June 8, 1995, patents typically had 17 years of patent life from the date the patent was issued. Patents granted after the June 8, 1995 date now have a 20-year patent life from the date of the first filing of the patent application. However, the effective patent term is frequently less than 20 years because patents are often obtained before products are actually marketed. Many factors influence the length of the effective patent term, including the requirements in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Public Health Service Act that certain products receive FDA approval before marketing. New human drug products generally must undergo extensive testing in animals and humans to show that the drugs are both safe and effective before FDA will approve the product for marketing. Consequently, in order to stimulate product development and innovation, Congress in 1984 enacted Title II of the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act (Public Law 98-417) to extend patent life to compensate patent holders for marketing time lost while developing the product and awaiting government approval. Title II of the Act created a program whereby patent holders whose patents claim a human drug product, medical device, food additive or color additive could recoup some of the lost patent time. In 1988, Congress enacted the Generic Animal Drug and Patent Term Restoration Act (Public Law 100-670) which contained provisions for patent restoration to animal drug products. The regulations governing the Patent Term Restoration program are located in the Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR Part 60.
But I want to know: why is Coca Cola or Leggos or Cadillac given patent protection for ever (renewable) while drugs are not? Let capitalism rule!
Thanks for the feedback.
Coca Cola is not patented; If you can figure out how to make Coca Cola, you can legally make it and market it as "Pharmboy Cola."Coke protects itself only by keeping its recipe secret. I don't think the FDA would approve of a drug whose formulation was not published, tho - so that's probably not an option for prescription medicine.
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