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 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 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 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,".

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 2007, 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 2007 alone at nearly $700 million and about $7 billion over the 2007-2010 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/