ggeneric brand of Lipiter availbable in Ireland? a

trihead

hi all,

Is there a generic brand of Lipiter availbable in Ireland at the moment? If so what is the name of it? Is there a big difference in price for the 20 mg tablets? I know he patent was only released a few months ago.

thanks

trihead

palmcut

Lipitor is going off patent in Ireland in May 2012.

There will be a number of generics available from 1st of June 2012.

Most of the generics will be called Atorvastatin.

My understanding is that the generic will be about 20% less than the current price of Lipitor.

locum-motion

palmcut wrote: »

...
My understanding is that the generic will be about 20% less than the current price of Lipitor.

While I don't have any solid data yet, my understanding is that the cost price will be about 6% less. That's what I'm hearing, anyway.

palmcut

locum-motion wrote: »

While I don't have any solid data yet, my understanding is that the cost price will be about 6% less. That's what I'm hearing, anyway.

When a drug comes off patent it immediately drops in price by 15%; and by a further 20% in 18 months. When a generic is approved by the HSE it has to be at least 5.66% below the price of the originator. So the generic would be 21.66% below the current price.

However none of the generic companies have yet released their prices.
There is an expectation of general price reductions in medicines either shortly or at the end of the year. Many of the generic companies are waiting to see if the HSE has a surprise announcement.

locum-motion

palmcut wrote: »

When a drug comes off patent it immediately drops in price by 15%; and by a further 20% in 18 mionths. When a generic is approved by the HSE it has to be at least 5.66% below the price of the originator. So the generic would be 21.66% below the current price.

However none of the generic companies have yet released their prices.
There is an expectation of general price reductions in medicines either shortly or at the end of the year. Many of the generic companies are waiting to see if the HSE has a surprise announcement.

Sorry, yes; I was talking about the 5.66% less than Lipitor, but was forgetting that the price of the Lipitor itself would be coming down too.

trihead

thanks for all the replies

Mucco

Where can I get info on Irish price regulations wrt generics?
As far as I know, the US generics policy seems to be the best (to get prices down quickly).
I suspect that the Irish policy keeps prices artificially high in order to create a 'friendly' environment for the pharma companies. Big employers and massive exporters.
Drug prices are a fascinating topic:

bleg

Mucco wrote: »

I suspect that the Irish policy keeps prices artificially high in order to create a 'friendly' environment for the pharma companies. Big employers and massive exporters.

An argument brought up again and again that is completely false. Ireland has a tiny population very sparsely populated. We're a tiny market, some drugs aren't even available here because the market is so small. We've the same market size as the city of Manchester more or less. Pharma companies settle here because they have access to the huge EU market, not the tiny Irish one. What we charge is only going to have the most minute effect on their revenues.

IPHA are always going to try to get the highest price for their products though, and they're well within their rights to do so.

Mucco

bleg wrote: »

An argument brought up again and again that is completely false. Ireland has a tiny population very sparsely populated. We're a tiny market, some drugs aren't even available here because the market is so small. We've the same market size as the city of Manchester more or less. Pharma companies settle here because they have access to the huge EU market, not the tiny Irish one. What we charge is only going to have the most minute effect on their revenues.

IPHA are always going to try to get the highest price for their products though, and they're well within their rights to do so.

I understand that which is why I used the term 'environment'. Having an aggressive pricing policy would create a negative atmosphere for the pharma industry. See the UK: the PPRS scheme is finishing, lipitor's coming off patent and Pfizer pulls out. Also GSK have been criticising NICE recently. They are more positive now that the Patent Box legislation has come in. The UK is also a small market in global terms.

BTW if you can point me in the direction of good papers on generics pricing in Ireland, I'd really appreciate it.

bleg

Pfizer pulled out because the last blockbuster that their 4000 strong R&D facility was viagra and the plant wasn't producing the goods and they could do it cheaper. They've also gone through a period of rationalisation after the Wyeth acquisition.

Pfizer have closed plants in Ireland too, namely loughbeg which produced exclusively lipitor. This had nothing to do with drug pricing in Ireland and everything to do with plant strategy, capacity, cost and flexibility.

Mucco

Incorporating industrial policy into pharma pricing policy is probably a good idea for a huge pharma exporter such as Ireland, I just want to find out what the actual policy is. The PPRS scheme in the UK allows for a larger profit margin for companies that invest in the UK - does Ireland have a similar scheme?
If so, it might explain why generics penetration in Ireland is amongst the poorest in the OECD. (Sources: European Generic Medicines Association, OECD (2008) Pharmaceutical Pricing Policies in a Global Market)

Ausone

palmcut wrote: »

When a drug comes off patent it immediately drops in price by 15%; and by a further 20% in 18 months. When a generic is approved by the HSE it has to be at least 5.66% below the price of the originator. So the generic would be 21.66% below the current price.

This phased 35% reduction was part of the IPHA agreement which ran out on March 1st this year.
Zyprexa should have been subject to such a clause 6 reduction, but the reduction was not implemented.

palmcut

Ausone wrote: »

This phased 35% reduction was part of the IPHA agreement which ran out on March 1st this year.
Zyprexa should have been subject to such a clause 6 reduction, but the reduction was not implemented.

Would that suggest that Lipitor will not come down in price shortly?

Ausone

palmcut wrote: »

Would that suggest that Lipitor will not come down in price shortly?

In short, yes.
However Pfizer may sacrifice the price of Lipitor in the upcoming IPHA reductions, as they did in Jan 2011.
Currently there is no automatic mechanism for prices to be reduced.
Don't forget the govt has FEMPI in its back pocket!

palmcut

It appears the HSE have made a complete Horlicks of "Lipitor".

Although Lipitor is off patent next Wednesday, the price has not been reduced. The generics are mainly quoted at 5.66% less than Lipitor.

It appears the agreement between the HSE and IPHA has completely broken down.