With U.S. sales rocketing past the $120 billion mark, the pharmaceutical industry is capturing a larger share of your health care dollar than ever. However, this apparently isn't enough for these corporate giants. They are now angling for patent extensions on some of their top-selling medications. If they succeed, it means more money out of your pocket. The average cost of a brand-name prescription drug is now $54, with a comparable generic version costing $17.
What's the motivation behind patent extensions? It's really quite simple. The pharmaceutical industry uses its formidable lobbying powers and deep pockets to convince Congress, on a drug by drug basis, to extend the patents on certain highly profitable prescription drugs. Just adding a few years-say, two to three-to a patent allows the manufacturer to continue to market the brand-name drug without any competition from a comparable generic equivalent.
During the next five years, it is estimated that some $20 billion worth of medications will come off patent, thus opening the door for development of generic versions. The popular antihistamine Claritin is one such drug. It currently sells for about $2 a pill in the United States, but an over-the-counter version sells for about one-quarter of the price in Canada and much of Europe.
We're talking big bucks. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that a single patent extension for the anti-inflammatory drug Lodine would cost federal health plans $10 million annually. When CBO includes the cost to the Medicaid program, private payers and consumers, the figure will easily exceed $50 million per year. And this is just one medication!
If Congress continues to approve patent extensions, consumers will be left paying higher prices for their medications for a lot longer.
Copyright People's Medical Society Dec 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved
Contact
Home
A
Labetalol