Spinal Disc Decompression

Cheap Drugs

The monthy cost of medication at the pharmacy counter--often going beyond what is affordable for the average patient.

“I spend about sixty dollars a month and that is a lot for me because I am paying for it myself,” says patient Natalie White.

“One of the great tragedies we see every day are patients leaving the doctors office with a prescription that can help them but they cant afford to fill it,” says Robert Hayes, President of the Medicare Rights Center.

But there is a point when medicine does become much more affordable: it’s when a drug’s patent runs out. Typically, it’s twelve years after the drug is first released to market. “Once there is competition introduced when these patents expire and generic companies can come in prices normally fall dramatically. For some patients who are paying out of pocket for their drugs some of them are getting three same medicine for a much lower price, that is a really good thing, insurance companies tend to profit because they are suddenly paying less to drug companies for covered drugs, so overall it is a pretty good moment for a particular drug,” says Hayes.

And 2006 is a particularly good year.

Patents are to end on several blockbuster medicines including the cholesterol drug zocor, the sleeping pill ambien, and the widely popular antidepressant zoloft.

Katheleen Albert, Manager of Pharmacy Marketing for Duane Reade, says, “Zoloft for example is an expensive medication, without insurance it is probably running three or four dollars a day for that depending on the strength, so as the generics comes out the cost of that goes down, it goes down considerably, initially maybe thirty percent off of what it has been and over time it will drop.”

And for those of you who want propecia, the hair re-growth pill, the prostate drug proscar expires this year.

Proscar is already a cheaper alternative of the same medicine as propecia, called finasteride. Now, it becomes even cheaper as a generic version will hit the market.

Other drugs going off patent this year include lamisil, the nail fungus drug, and the heart drug coreg.

“I have never actually had a generic drug, I have never taken one because I always hear they are not as good as regular drugs,” says Natalie.

“Mind you the important thing to remember about generics is that they are all FDA approved, they are equal quality the availability in the body are the same, they are safe, they are effective,” states Ms. Albert.

And, they’re good for the bottom line.

Zocor costs about $2.75 a day. Now, once several generic companies make it, the price could drop to 50 cents a day or less.

But here’s the interesting rub: Merck is going to try to undercut the generic which is produced by Teva pharmaceuticals, and keep a piece of the zocor, or simvastatin market. Merck\'s negotiated a deal with some large insurers to sell them zocor for less than the generic.

So the big loser in all this…is going to be Pfizer, which makes the number one selling statin drug, lipitor. But because lipitor costs 3 bucks a pill, a much cheaper but branded zocor for less than 50 cents a day is going to be a huge issue.

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