Senator Upset Over Low Drug Price?!
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.
More news results:
Technorati Tags: generic, Merck, simvastatin, Teva, Zocor
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June 26th, 2006 at 9:38 am
[…] Here’s more on what I posted yesterday regarding Merck’s pricing of Zocor and Senator Schumer’s (D-NY) reaction to that. Here’s more details. […]