News July
Big Year for Senior Citizens to Save on Generic Drugs, Even in Medicare
The year 2006 maybe remembered as the year prescription drugs
got a whole lot cheaper for senior citizens. Not just because of
the Medicare prescription drug program but because of the flood
of lower-cost generic drugs coming on the market to replace high-priced
brand name drugs. "Never have so many branded drugs, with annual
sales of as much as $75 billion, lost their patents in so short
a time," says the Los Angeles Times.
Generic drugs,
including new anti-cholesterol and anti-depressants drugs, could
save U.S. consumers $24.7 billion this year alone, according to
a report in June by Express Scripts, one of the nation's largest
managers of pharmacy benefit plans. The biggest savings available
this year the company says are in the anti-cholesterol class at
$10.3 billion.
For many older people, who are on the front line of the fight against
high cholesterol, the introduction of generics for the statin drugs
Zocor and Pravachol, is expecially good news. This just leaves two
brand-name stations standing – Lipitor and Crestor –
that may see their customers switching to the much-less-expensive
generic statins.
HealthPartners, the largest consumer-governed, non-profit health
care organization, projects that drug costs for treating high cholesterol
will decline by as much as $14 million annually with just the introduction
of the Zocor generic.
According to the research firm, IMS Health, statins accounted for
$16 billion in U.S. sales in 2005. Zocor was the second most widely
prescribed statin with sales in 2005 of $3.1 billion.
"A generic drug is identical, or bioequivalent to a brand
name drug in dosage form, safety, strength, route of administration,
quality, performance characteristics and intended use," according
to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"Although generic drugs are chemically identical to their
branded counterparts, they are typically sold at substantial discounts
from the branded price. According to the Congressional Budget Office,
generic drugs save consumers an estimated $8 to $10 billion a year
at retail pharmacies. Even more billions are saved when hospitals
use generics," the FDA says.
Several studies have also pointed out that the savings for senior
citizens on generic drugs in the Medicare prescription drug program
are gigantic.
Seniors in the Medicare program stand potentially to save at least
$23 billion dollars over the next five years as 14 major brand-name
drugs commonly used by seniors are expected to become available
in generic form, according to a report in April by the Pharmaceutical
Care Management Association. If PCMA's analysis were expanded beyond
the top 100 drugs used by seniors, the savings would be even greater.
In 2010, seven drugs commonly used by seniors - Norvasc (heart
disease), Ambien (sleep disorder), Zyrtec (allergies), Lotrel (heart
disease), Coreg (hypertension), Lamisil (fungal infection), and
Tequin (antibiotic) -- are expected to go generic. PCMA estimates
the potential savings in 2010 alone at nearly $700 million and about
$7 billion over the 2010-2010 period.
There are still heated discussions in Washington on making changes
to the Medicare drug program, including allowing Medicare to negotiate
with the drug-makers for better drug prices.
Senior citizens, however, can only look at that as just one more
gigantic reduction in the gigantic cost of drugs, because they are
already making big savings.
Source http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Health/
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