March 31, 2008
Newer Anti-Cholesterol Drugs Strike Out
The final version of the study that sank Vytorin and Zetia appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine over the weekend after its presentation at the American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago. (You can see a summary of the study here.) The take away lesson for consumers? When new classes of medicine come on the market to treat something for which there is already something available, stick with the older medication as long as it works, especially if it is a generic. That the two drugs generated over $5 billion a year in sales for Merck and Schering-Plough is testimony to the power of marketing, and the poverty of medical and regulatory science.
For a dispassionate review of the issues, or if you still have questions about whether you should be taking these drugs, I suggest you read this analysis by Dr. Harlan Krumholz, which was published yesterday on the Journal Watch website.
Posted by gooznews at March 31, 2008 08:13 AMOne important aspect of the Vytorin study is being overlooked. Vytorin is a combination of two drugs, one currently a brand name drug sold by Schering (Zetia) and the other a generic drug sold by Merck (zocor). Vytorin is significantly more expensive then its component parts.
For Merck, Vytorin is far more lucrative to sell then its component drug Zocor sold separately. Vytorin represents for Merck more than anything else a way to continue to charge brand level prices for zocor instead of generic prices.
In my opinion, merely combining two separate drugs into one pill should not be considered medical progress and merit a doubling of the costs of treatment when one of those pills is available as a generic. Here's an easy place to achieve major cost savings for payors.
The markup should reflect the marketplace value to individual patients. How much more money is an individual patient willing to spend for a 2 in 1 pill vs. each pill purchased separately? My guess, next to nothing if it has to come out of the patients pocket.
Posted by: Dr. Paul Bellman at March 31, 2008 11:36 AM