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Drugmaker Schering-Plough has launched a generic version of its own hepatitis C drug Rebetol (ribavirin) — a move that some analysts say could destroy the market for generic firms already selling the product.
Generic drugmakers have joined their brand counterparts in a sharp attack against reimportation, charging that allowing the practice could endanger Americans’ safety by greatly increasing the potential for counterfeiting Rx drugs and threatening innovation fostered by free-market competition.
The brand pharmaceutical lobby has succeeded in persuading lawmakers in almost half the states to amend Medicaid laws to exempt expensive therapeutic drug classes from substitution rules requiring doctors to prescribe lower-priced alternatives, according to one generic drug executive.
Rather than looking to reimportation or price controls as remedies to the high cost of Rx drugs, the U.S. should work to ensure that European and other industrialized nations shoulder their share of the development burden, according to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC).
Generic firms Andrx and Teva Pharmaceutical together have launched generic versions of Ortho-McNeil’s oral contraceptive Ortho Tri-Cyclen and Ortho Cyclen-28.
Pharmaceutical Resources (PRX), the parent company of generic drugmaker Par Phramaceutical, yesterday said it would acquire generic firm Kali Laboratories for $135 million – a move that more than doubles PRX’s research and development capabilities.
Rather than looking to reimportation or price controls as solutions to the rising cost of prescription drugs, the U.S. should address the problem as a trade issue and work to ensure that European and other industrialized nations shoulder their fair share of the development burden, according to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MBC).
In a move that could undercut generics already on the market, drugmaker Schering-Plough last week launched a generic version of its own hepatitis C drug Rebetol (ribavirin) at what some analysts expect will be a steeply discounted price.
Representatives from brand and generic drugmakers joined forces last week to launch a sharp counterattack against reimportation, charging that allowing the practice could endanger Americans’ safety by greatly increasing the potential for counterfeiting prescription drugs and threatening innovation fostered by free-market competition.
The brand pharmaceutical lobby has been successful in persuading legislators in 24 states to amend Medicaid laws to exempt expensive therapeutic drug classes from substitution rules requiring doctors to prescribe lower-priced alternatives, according to a generic drug executive.