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Deal Delays Generic Lipitor Until 2011

Pact with Indian drug maker stands to net billions for Pfizer

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 18, 2008 5:11 PM CDT
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(Newser) – Pfizer has struck a deal with an Indian generic drug maker to delay a cheaper version of Lipitor in the US until November 2011. The agreement limiting generic versions of the cholesterol-lowering drug will translate into billions more in profits for Pfizer, the New York Times reports. Lipitor, the world's best-selling medicine, costs about $3 a day; a generic version will likely be less than $1.

Pfizer's counsel calls the agreement “pro-patient, pro-competition, and pro-intellectual property.” But not everyone agrees. “This is clearly a miscarriage of the law,” says one analyst. Pfizer will not pay Ranbaxy—the Indian drug maker—but will allow it to sell generic Lipitor in a number of countries outside the US. The Federal Trade Commission is not expected to challenge the agreement.

Forty-milligram tablets of the drug Lipitor are photographed in Glen Rock, N.J., in a file photo from Nov. 15, 2005.
Forty-milligram tablets of the drug Lipitor are photographed in Glen Rock, N.J., in a file photo from Nov. 15, 2005.   (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)
Pharmacist Diane Yu holds a bottle of the prescription drug Lipitor at a Maximart pharmacy in Palo Alto, Calif. in this Dec. 14, 2007, file photo.
Pharmacist Diane Yu holds a bottle of the prescription drug Lipitor at a Maximart pharmacy in Palo Alto, Calif. in this Dec. 14, 2007, file photo.   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
The world headquarters of Pfizer Inc. is shown in this April 12, 2005, file photo in New York.
The world headquarters of Pfizer Inc. is shown in this April 12, 2005, file photo in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, file)
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Would angry consumers mean less business?
Reuters

Meanwhile, shares are up
Associated Press

 
pharmaceutical companies • Pfizer • cholesterol lowering drug • Lipitor • pharmaceutical industry

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