More on Merck’s Zocor Pricing
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.
It seems that Merck if offering major rebates to health insurers if they will give Zocor it’s lowest co-pay and then ensure that the generic version (simvastatin) is given the highest co-pay. Schumer thinks this is illegal and violates anti-competitve laws. I’m no lawyer and won’t comment on whether or not it is illegal. However, I would say that it is questionable from a moral point of view (at least in my opinion). It does NOTHING but reinforce in the mind of the general consumer that pharma companies are greedy and will do anything to try and keep their prices high. With the current state of the pharmaceutical industry, this is the last thing needed now. Also, Merck is already taking it on the chin for the Vioxx situation which will hang around their neck for the next several years.
If they want to keep market share then it might be better to just lower their price to either the same or slightly lower than generic version once it comes out. Making your price low only if the insurer makes the price of the generic drug higher is certainly questionable.
I think most people miss the point (I did too at first) that it isn’t just the pricing but that the pricing is only available if the generic has a higher co-pay.
The following are some good references to this matter:
- Generics and Pricing, Part II - A Drug, A Price and a Senator - Eye on FDA
- newsobserver.com | Cheaper Zocor? Critics smell a rat
- Schumer to Merck: Raise Your Prices Now - DrugWonks
- Mises Economics Blog: Because drug price competition is bad, mmmkay???
- Senator Raps Drug Giant Over Zocor Price - New York Times
- SCHUMER: MERCK MADE PAYOFFS TO INSURERS TO UNDERCUT GENERIC ZOCOR - FDA News
Technorati Tags: Merck, simvastatin, Zocor
Related Posts:
Bookmark it with:
| 
del.icio.us
| 
Digg it
| 
Furl
| 
Simpy
| 
Spurl
| 
My Yahoo!
|
