Patent Losses Spur Pharma Companies To Try Drug Coupons

By Cornelius Nunev


There are a number of concerted efforts out there to keep people off narcotics. That extends to pharmaceuticals also, as some corporations want to keep people off generic drugs. The largest pharmaceutical companies, alias "Big Pharma" are issuing drug coupons to keep individuals using brand name drugs that have gone off-patent.

Drug coupon codes part of narcotics going off patent

Though the morality of government intervention into business is arguable, a clear benefit to customers is when the patents on prescription medications lapse. Drugs that go "off-patent" can then be made by generic drug businesses. Generic drugs then hit the market and people taking the drugs save a bundle by buying generic.

Of course, the businesses that produce the narcotic do not like losing all that business. In fact, they get really angry when they spend a lot of cash to produce a specific narcotic that is then just stolen by many businesses. Fortunately, some of them have come up with an idea to keep consumers after the patent expires, according to USA today. The narcotic businesses are offering narcotic coupons to consumers that allow them to keep using the narcotics at an enormous discount.

Getting a drug coupon

Among the Pfizer narcotic coupon codes currently being offered is for Lipitor, Pfizer's cholesterol-reduction medication. Using the narcotic coupon codes, which are called "Lipitor For You," the co-pay for a one-month supply is $4 for insured patients, providing their co-pay is $79 or less. Generally, it costs between $25 and $50. Lipitor, formerly a giant cash machine for the company, went off-patent last year and generics hit the industry quickly. A one-month supply of generic avorstatin, the chemical name of the drug, goes for $10, which certainly won't make a patient need a cash advance to keep themselves in life-saving pills.

The medication costs $175 without any type of discount or insurance, which means individuals without insurance could get it for $100 with the $75 off coupon. Those with co-pays more than $79 will get discounts on a sliding scale, which will still be helpful.

According to the Washington Post, some other off-patent brand medications that have available coupon codes consist of Novartis' blood pressure medication Diovan and Bristol-Meyers Squibb's blood-thinner Plavix.

As maligned as they are heralded

Big pharmaceutical companies are given huge fines all the time for scandals. Even though they are always coming out with new things, they are also always breaking laws to make some cash. Some people feel bad for the companies though. Generic corporations do not have to do any work, and they can produce the identical drug for 90 percent less, saving consumers a ton of money. Still, the big corporations are the ones that spend billions on research and production of a drug that could save lives. They lose all right to drug in just a short period of time.

Generics are also good for insurance businesses, according to USA Today, as the copay could be cheaper by up to $100 per prescription, dependent upon the narcotic. The drug coupon codes, also called copay coupon codes, are estimated to possibly make Big Pharma about $32 billion over the next decade.

About 85 percent of individuals using Lipitor started using a generic before June was over. About 80 percent of all prescriptions are for generic drugs.




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