Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents

[Purron]

Good news for a change regarding health care costs. From the article:

The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world's 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: cholesterol fighter Lipitor and blood thinner Plavix.

Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents - WTOP.com

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Good news for a change regarding health care costs. From the article:



Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents - WTOP.com

Saw the list this morning in the paper. It will save me about $1000 per year on Plavix and I'm now getting it out of Canada at a discount.

 

[Purron]

Here's the list from the article:

http://www.medcohealth.com/art/corporate/anticipatedfirsttime_generics.pdf

 

[rescueme]

Hey, between my/DW's meds and my dogs meds's (Frontline, which is now available in generic form), I think I'll throw a party with the savings!

Seriously, as a person (along with DW) who has a bit in VGHCX (VG Health Care) I don't see this as a problem (as related to our investment) at all.

Quantity will more than make up for the reduction in "quality". I'm sure there are many, many folks (both young and old) that don't take a drug to control a situation since they can't afford it.

And like it or not, there are other drugs in the pipeline that will be used in the future, as better-faster. I see this as an expansion of the market in this area (which is not a bad thing, IMHO).

 

[spncity]

When I first skimmed this thread title, I thought it said drug prices were plummeting due to a wave of expiring patients. I thought, I don't want them even if they are cheap...

 

[temsike]

This is great news. I take a handful of drugs in the AM and a smaller one at night. I use singular, januvia, and actos which are brandname drugs. When singular becomes generic, that means I will only be using two expensive brand name drugs. For cholesterol, I use generic mevacor. When lipitor becomes generic, I will have my doctor switch me to generic lipitor because I like lipitor's long half-life.

 

[Koolau]

Actually, rescueme, this might be a good time to sell your drug stocks. You may no longer need their potential growth to balance their "gauging". Just like, when oil goes down, you can sell your oil stocks because you don't need their potential for growth to cover gasoline/heating oil gauging.

In addition to indexing, my only rule of buying stocks is to buy those companies with the ability to "gauge" you on price. If gauging is real, the stocks must go up. Now that drug cos. can't field many new "gaugable" drugs, best get rid of them.

Just my $.02 worth, of course. I could be wrong. I was once. YMMV as always.

 

[W2R]

Whew! I read the title of this thread as,

"Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patients"

the first time I glanced at it. To my horror, I imagined patients expiring right and left, lessening demand for drugs, which in turn would result in lower prices.

Since I am feeling skeptical this morning, I'm pretty sure that newer, better drugs with unexpired patents will magically come on the market to replace those that are available in generics.

 

[chinaco]

Yes... good news assuming those companies do not pay some lobbyist to get a special bill passed in congress to extend their patent... or tie it up in courts to milk consumers for years... or fight the generic manufacturers to the point that they just give up because of the cost of fighting it in court.

Solving The Drug Patent Problem - Forbes.com

Pharmaceuticals/Health Products | OpenSecrets


Turn to page 231 of this article.... it shows the usual techniques for drug companies to keep or extend their legal monopoly for a drug.

http://www.ipmall.org/hosted_resources/IDEA/41_IDEA/41-2_IDEA_227_Glasgow.pdf

The strategies are divided into five categories, although many of the strategies overlap: (1) Attempts to extend patents through legislative
loopholes and lobbying; (2) Initiating patent infringement litigation; (3) Merging with direct competitors as patent rights expire to maintain market
share; (4) Layering of patents and combining drugs for new patents; and (5) Using brand name development and advertising to increase barriers to entry for generic manufacturers. ....

I suppose we will see if our legislators are really interested in lowering medical spending costs for government and consumers.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Whew! I read the title of this thread as,

"Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patients"

the first time I glanced at it. To my horror, I imagined patients expiring right and left, lessening demand for drugs, which in turn would result in lower prices.

My jaded eyes saw the same thing.

I find that in the past few years I am misreading signs and headings with bizarre results. Have been thinking about writing them down.

Anybody else have this problem? Not just once, but repeatedly?

 

[arebelspy]

My jaded eyes saw the same thing.

I find that in the past few years I am misreading signs and headings with bizarre results. Have been thinking about writing them down.

Anybody else have this problem? Not just once, but repeatedly?

Yes. Only I read patents, and had to reread yours about 6 times to see patients.

I deal with patents a LOT more in my life (several times a week, usually, at the least) and almost never the word patients (every few months).

So we tend to see what we're used to, perhaps? Cause either could work from the context, I suppose.

But I really struggled with your bolded quote. I could not see the difference for the life of me. It was like one of those spot the difference pictures, at which I am terrible.

 

[Alan]

My jaded eyes saw the same thing.

I find that in the past few years I am misreading signs and headings with bizarre results. Have been thinking about writing them down.

Anybody else have this problem? Not just once, but repeatedly?

All the time

The other week I completed a crossword in the weekly free newspaper that comes through the door. All except for 1 clue which was "Verify". Several words fit but none that meant "Verify". When the paper came the following week I saw that the answer was "Truth". I re-checked the clue and it read "Verity". I must have read that a clue a 100 times and mis-read it every time.

 

[ERD50]

Yes... good news assuming those companies do not pay some lobbyist to get a special bill passed in congress to extend their patent...

This is news - lobbyists now have been granted the authority to vote on bills? How come I didn't hear about this?

I think you meant something like "assuming a member of Congress does not accept a favor to get a bill passed that benefits a special interest group over the general public".

Yes, I hate the phrases that 'the lobbyists did this/that'. It seems to release members of Congress from their sworn responsibility.

-ERD50