Bad news for Big Pharma:
In a worriesome development for drugmakers, generics occupied every slot on the 2010 list of most-prescribed drugs, as compiled by IMS Instutute for Healthcare Informatics in their study The Use of Medicines in the United
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog noted that non-branded drugs now make up 78% of all prescriptions dispensed. Indeed, only three branded drugs made the top 25, and all three of those—Lipitor, Plavix, and Singulair—have since gone generic.
The IMS report also held another big of ominous news for Big Pharma, suggesting that generics capture the market for a particular drug much more quickly than they did in the past. Within six months of a patent lost in 2010, generics had taken more than 80 percent of sales volume from the branded version. Just four years prior, generics were only able to grab 55 percent of the market within six months.
We are getting smarter!
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