Now You See It.....

Lipitor, the huge selling anti-cholesterol drug, was ready to go off patent and generic in 2010 and the world was waiting. Now they have to wait some more. By striking a deal with a company from India, who was going to make the generic version, Pfizer was able to get a year reprieve until 2011. Of course they were suing the company first in order to slow them down and make them listen. A good lawsuit will do that. (It reminds of a joke where the punchline is "a good sheep will do that"). It is all a big game for these pharma companies and, unfortunately, patients get stuck in the middle. So what is one year of waiting going to do for Pfizer? Well, it means millions and millions more into their coffer. Good for them. My only response to them is a write-in campaign. Oh, no, not to the good people at Pfizer. I mean by writing more generic statins or cheap statins like pravastatin or simvistatin. They are just as good for the patient and a whole lot cheaper for everyone. That is a win-win for us all....except for big pharma.