Ending Prescription Drug ‘Product Hopping’ Could Save $4.7 Billion Annually

Scott Wooldridge | BenefitsPro

“The report, from Matrix Global Advisors and the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD), looked at five prescription drugs: Prilosec, TriCor, Suboxone, Doryx, and Namenda. As with other examples of product hopping, drug companies have tweaked the formulas on those drugs, allowing them to extend their patents on the new formulations, and delay the move to the generic drug marketplace.

The report finds that extending patents on just those five drugs will result in a cost to the U.S. health care system of $4.7 billion annually—money that in theory could have been saved if the drugs had been available in a generic form.”

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