Cheaper Prescription Drugs On The Way
The choice between buying meds and buying dinner may become easier for millions of Americans within the next year.
The patents on more than a half dozen presciption drugs are set to expire soon, which medical experts believe will clear the way for generic brands to replace them.
Generic drugs usually cost far less than brand names.
The cost savings can be in the hundreds of dollars, or as much as 80 percent.
With the down economy, retirement and a health care system in transformation, the monetary uncertainty has forced some to make compromising decisions — buy the meds, or see how long they can live without them.
“It’s a sad story,” said Claudine Ball, a Coachella Valley resident. “It’s awful.”
Ball and her husband Richard Muhleck said they’re lucky, because both are retired and purchase their medicine cheap through Medicare and private insurance.
“There were times when I would take it like every other day, or I would break it in half to make it last longer,” said Kathy Malott, 60, a Desert Hot Springs resident who is not as fortunate, because she receives only basic Medicare. “However, most of my medications, I go to Algodones, Mexico, because I can get em for so much less.”
Malott takes Glucophage for diabetes.
The brand-name version in the United States costs more than $200 a bottle.
In Mexico, she pays $8.
“My mother started going there about 20 years ago for her prescriptions and our whole family goes down there once every three or four months to refill,” said Malott.
Within the next year, the patents will expire for Solodyn, Zyprexa, Lexapro, Provigil, Plavix and Singulair.
Another one of the medications on the list is Lipitor.
It’s a cholesterol drug and it goes generic in November.
The average co-pay for generic drugs is $6, compared to $24 for the brand name.
“They show you on the receipt how much it would cost if you don’t have insurance, and it’s outrageous,” said Ball.
When FDA patents expire, other companies are free to make the same drug.
Competition makes the generic brands cheaper, according to medical experts.
