Prescription drug prices will plummet as patents on blockbuster drugs are set to expire soon, the Associated Press reports.
Between now and 2016, patents on blockbuster drugs with about $255 billion in global annual sales are set to expire, EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm, told AP.
Over the next 14 months, generic versions of seven of the world’s 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: Lipitor and Plavix, will take center stage. Generic competition will decimate sales of brand-name drugs and slash the cost to patients and companies that provide health benefits.
Top drugs getting generic competition by September 2012 are Lipitor and Plavix. Generic versions of big-selling drugs for asthma, bipolar disorder, blood pressure, depression, diabetes, high triglycerides and HIV will also take center stage by then.
The flood of generic drugs into the market will continue over the next decade or so as nearly 120 brand-name prescription drugs will lose market exclusivity, prescription benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc. told AP.
"My estimation is at least 15 percent of the population is currently using one of the drugs whose patents will expire in 2011 or 2012," Joel Owerbach, chief pharmacy officer for Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, told AP.
Since generic drugs typically cost 20 percent to 80 percent less than brand name drugs, patients, along with businesses and taxpayers who help foot the bill for prescription drugs via corporate and government prescription plans, will save a small fortune.
According to AP, doctors hope the lower prices will reduce the number of people endangering their health because they can't afford the medicines they need.
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, director of The Women's Heart Program at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, told AP that she worries about patients who are missing checkups and cutting pills in half to save on costs.
"You can pretty much tell by the numbers when I check the patient's blood pressure or cholesterol levels," that they haven’t taken their medications as often as prescribed, Goldberg says.
Studies show that even patients with private insurance or Medicare aren't filling all their prescriptions, particularly for cancer drugs with co-payments of hundreds of dollars or more.
The new generic drugs will significantly reduce co-payments for those with insurance. But for the uninsured who are used to paying full price, the savings will be much bigger.
Consulting firm Wolters Kluwer Pharma Solutions reported that the average price for a generic prescription drug last year was $72, versus $198 for the average brand-name drug. Those figures represent the costs for short-term to 90-day prescription drugs.
IMS Health reported that the average co-payment for generics last year was around $6, versus $24 for brand-name drugs given preferred status by an insurer and $35 for nonpreferred brands.
Among the drugs that recently went off patent, Protonix now costs just $16 a month for the generic version, versus $170 for the brand name. For patients with drug coverage, out-of-pocket costs for top drugs like Lipitor, Plavix and Diovan could fall below $10 a month.
Currently, Lipitor retails for about $150 a month, Plavix costs nearly $200 a month and Diovan costs about $125 a month.
