interesting article on generic drugs
- Thread starter pharmaz88
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Eh...nothing new there.
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Hey...Part D has been around for about 9 days now. That's old news. I'm waiting for part E.
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pharmaz88 said:
You're welcome. That fills up my meaningful contribution quota for the year.
So many big name drugs becoming generic already -- Zithromax, Allegra. Now I understand why our state Medicaid switched from Lipitor and Pravachol to Zocor, Crestor, and Vytorin.
What's weird is that generic Allegra barely costs less than brand Allegra. What's also weirder is that a lot of physicians believe that Allegra has "quietly" gone OTC. An allergist gave us an allergic rhinitis lecture in therapeutics class a few months ago and told us that Allegra went OTC, then today we got a call in the hospital from a physician asking us if it was OTC. The hospital pharmacists didn't know since they're out of touch with the retail scene, so I had to explain to them that it isn't OTC yet, just generic. Hopefully it'll go OTC after its generic exclusivity ends like Prilosec.
I wonder how the Medicaid cuts and Medicare D transition will affect the pharmacy business in the next few years -- and more importantly what kind of contracts we future graduates will be able to negotiate 😀
What's weird is that generic Allegra barely costs less than brand Allegra. What's also weirder is that a lot of physicians believe that Allegra has "quietly" gone OTC. An allergist gave us an allergic rhinitis lecture in therapeutics class a few months ago and told us that Allegra went OTC, then today we got a call in the hospital from a physician asking us if it was OTC. The hospital pharmacists didn't know since they're out of touch with the retail scene, so I had to explain to them that it isn't OTC yet, just generic. Hopefully it'll go OTC after its generic exclusivity ends like Prilosec.
I wonder how the Medicaid cuts and Medicare D transition will affect the pharmacy business in the next few years -- and more importantly what kind of contracts we future graduates will be able to negotiate 😀
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It takes awhile for the generic prices to go down. Give it 6 months. Wait until there are plenty of generic manufacturers and a stable supply. Then, prepare to get burned by the sudden drop in AWP. 
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Looks good to me when I graduate in '08
"Still, she doesn't see the benefits from increased generic use outweighing the Medicare and Medicaid changes at least until 2008 for Walgreen or CVS Corp."
"Still, she doesn't see the benefits from increased generic use outweighing the Medicare and Medicaid changes at least until 2008 for Walgreen or CVS Corp."
