Generic drugs, health plans take big bite out of pharma sales

The Wall Street Journal examines how generics have eaten into the sales of blockbuster drugs with years left to run on their patents. Pfizer's Lipitor is a classic example of a drug stalled by competing generics in the field of cholesterol-lowering meds. At Kaiser Permanente, fewer than 10 percent of patients receiving cholesterol-lowering drugs are getting Lipitor. Insurance plans are requiring members to try other meds and forcing members to pay more when they insist on Lipitor. That approach has badly damaged the big pharma's strategy of tackling major health issues and backing new drugs with huge advertising campaigns.

- read this article [1] from The Wall Street Journal for more

ALSO: None of that, though, has dulled the internal race to succeed Henry McKinnell as CEO of Pfizer. Article [2]