Generic price of Zocor to be limited?
The Boston globe has an article on a recent ruling that will likely limit how low the price of generic versions of Zocor (simvastatin). This is one of the leading statin drugs and the patent is set to expire on June 23rd. There is expected to be almost a dozen generic companies via for this market. The District Judge Richard Roberts declared invalid an FDA decision to NOT allow Ivax (a division of Teva Pharmaceuticals) and Ranbaxy Laboratories to sell generic versions of Zocor. This means it is sent back to the FDA to reconsider. Ivax and Ranbaxy will both most likely have 6 months exclusivity to the generic market with others allowed to enter the market after the six month time period is over. Merck is also working with a third company to make an “authorized” version so there will likely be three companies making a generic version.
The price will likely be about 65% less than the brand name Zocor initially. This also means that patients who are on Lipitor may also be switched to generic simvastatin since the price will be much lower. However, the assumption is that when the market becomes more crowded, the price will likely drop even more as the 10 or so companies compete for this market (maybe by as much as 95%!). Zocor was a $4.5 billion in 2005 so the market is huge.
For a more detailed analysis see the article from the Patent Barista.
Here is a collection of news articles from Yahoo on this issue and here is the Google news on Zocor (simvastatin).
Technorati Tags: FDA, simvastatin
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