Hard Times in Washington for Generic Drugs

Even though rising production and use of generic pharmaceuticals is saving billions for the nation’s healthcare system, policy makers continue to slap the industry with policies it claims will limit product development and sales. A newreport from the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) calculates that generic drugs saved $254 billion in 2014, and some $1.68 trillion over the past 10 years. Generics account for 88% of prescriptions (3.8 billion of total 4.3 billion prescriptions dispensed in the United States), according to analysis by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, but only 28% of drug spending. Policy makers thus should take steps to promote the development of competitive generic therapies and of biosimilars, says GPhA.

For the rest of this article, visit Pharmaceutical Technology.