Pfizer is getting creative to preserve Lipitor's billions in sales as the cholesterol drug gets generic competition in the U.S. market.
Pfizer is offering unprecedented discounts and incentives for
patients, insurers and companies that process prescriptions. The
deals will make the brand name as cheap as or cheaper than generics that go on sale Wednesday.
Normally when a drug's patent ends, generics grab nearly all its
market share within a year. Pfizer isn't giving up that easy on Lipitor.
The drug still brings in nearly $11 billion a year, a sixth of Pfizer's revenue.
Sanford Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson estimates Pfizer can
still make a $100 profit on a 90-day supply of Lipitor under the
deals. That's about half what it makes now.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
