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posted by LaminatorX on Sunday December 14 2014, @08:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the good-drugs dept.

Andrew Pollack reports at the NYT that a federal judge has blocked an attempt by the drug company Actavis to halt sales of an older form of its Alzheimer’s disease drug Namenda in favor of a newer version with a longer patent life after New York’s attorney general filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing the drug company of forcing patients to switch to the newer version of the widely used medicine to hinder competition from generic manufacturers. “Today’s decision prevents Actavis from pursuing its scheme to block competition and maintain its high drug prices,” says Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general. “Our lawsuit against Actavis sends a clear message: Drug companies cannot illegally prioritize profits over patients.” The case involves a practice called product hopping where brand name manufacturers (“product hoppers”) make a slight alteration to their prescription drug (PDF) and engage in marketing efforts to shift consumers from the old version to the new to insulate the drug company from generic competition for several years. For its part Actavis argued that an injunction would be “unprecedented and extraordinary” and would cause the company “great financial harm, including unnecessary manufacturing and marketing costs.” Namenda has been a big seller. In the last fiscal year, the drug generated $1.5 billion in sales. The drug costs about $300 a month.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 14 2014, @01:48PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 14 2014, @01:48PM (#125941)

    I know from firsthand experience that customers will go with the brand name drug at 50 times the price rather than the generic in most cases, even after explaining that it is the same chemical in the same quantities. It even occurs with the generic equivalents where a customer will demand the "blue" generic pill rather than the "red" pill which is exactly the same but has another dye in it. It goes as far as junkies buying drugs on the street but demanding their specific brand of drug, based on what is arbitrarily perceived as best in their circle of friends.