This is the day that Merck — and Pfizer — have long dreaded.
Today, Merck's cholesterol-lowering drug Zocor loses its United States patent protection, becoming the largest-selling drug yet to be opened to cheap generic competition.
That change will cost Merck billions of dollars a year. But it could be nearly as damaging to Pfizer, whose rival cholesterol drug, Lipitor, is the world's most popular medicine, with global sales last year of $12 billion. Now insurers are hoping to convince patients and doctors that cheap clones of Zocor will make full-priced Lipitor an unnecessary luxury.
More from Alex Berenson at the NYT here.
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