QDIS Blog

Senator Upset Over Low Drug Price?!

by Ed Vawter @ 5:45 pm. Filed under Health News

Seems the drug industry is coming under fire for having prices too low?! Senator Schumer (D-NY) is upset because Merck has chosen to price Zocor very low.

Senator Raps Drug Giant Over Zocor Price: Financial News - Yahoo!
Finance:

Typically when a drug goes generic (Teva is about to launch a generic version of Zocor) price drops but the brand name drug is still usually sold at a higher price than the generic equivalent. Merck has chosen to try and maintain it’s market share by offering the drug at a very attractive price (probably lower than what Teva may be planning on selling simvastatin for). I’ve always wondered why drug companies didn’t do this with their brand name drug once a generic comes on the market.

It seems if drug prices are too high, drug companies are excused of price gouging (as example see a recent AARP report). Now when they lower the price more than normal, they are accused of being anti-competitve. I’ve always said that in the mind of the “man (or woman) on the street” medications are viewed as essentials and are thought of differently from other products such as an automobile. I think having strong competition such as this will ultimately help make medicines more affordable. All of this is provided brand name companies are not selling at a lose in order to drive the competition from the market.

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Technorati Tags: generic, Merck, simvastatin, Teva, Zocor

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Neurocrine and Pfizer End Agreement for Indiplon

by Ed Vawter @ 5:21 pm. Filed under FDA, Pharma News, Pharma

I posted previously on Neurocrine and the insomnia drug Indiplon. There seems to be much more to the story than what I first thought. I concentrated on the information that the FDA hadn’t fully reviewed all the data and that the lower doses (in capsules) were given an approvable letter and the higher dose tablets were not. Now it seems Pfizer is ending their agreement with Neurocrine. Here’s the press release.

Neurocrine and Pfizer Terminate Collaboration Agreement for Indiplon

The Street.com has another article.

Pfizer Drops Neurocrine Deal

It should be noted that the FDA sending an approvable letter does not mean it is approved. It means that, provided the questions that the FDA may have are satisfied, they would then approve the drug. It seems they rejected the long lasting version (the tablets) and asked for more data on the lower dose fast acting version (the capsules).

Neurocrine had a webcast yesterday and they have a link on their website. I’ve not had a chance to listen to it (and probably won’t for reasons I’m not going into). My guess is without Pfizers support, that Neurocrine will discontinue their work on this drug. Also the area of sleeping pills is becoming competitive and I’m not sure how well they would be able to penetrate the market. I do want to disclose that I have been an occasional user of Ambien for a couple of years now.

It’s also interesting to note Forbes has been hinting that Pfizer may buy Sepracor who makes Lunesta. I’m not sure how much weight to put on this. If Pfizer is truly interested in getting into the insomnia market this may be a better route to get into this area.

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