$22B US Generic Drugs Industry by the Numbers
With
the new Democratic Congress promising to lower
health care costs, generic drug makers take on
brand-name rivals
to level the playing field, reports
AP. Here are some key metrics and stats
on the generic drugs market:
With nearly $22.3 billion in 2005 US sales compared to $229.5 billion U.S. brand pharmaceutical manufacturer sales for 2005, generic medicines account for 13.1% of all prescription drugs sales, but 56% of all prescriptions dispensed in the United States.
Generic pharmaceutical products are used to fill more than 1 billion prescriptions every year.
Top generic drug companies include: Novartis (Sandoz), Teva, Mylan, Watson, and Barr Pharmaceuticals.
8,730 of the 11,487 drugs listed in the FDA’s Orange Book have generic counterparts.In 2005, the average retail price of a generic prescription drug was $29.82. The average retail price of a brand name prescription drug was $101.71.
Blockbuster products coming off patent are valued at $22 billion in 2006, $27 billion in 2007, and $29 billion in 2008, according to Bain & Company report.
Among the blockbuster drug patents scheduled to expire in the next two years are:
- Schering Plough's allergy treatment Clarinex
- Merck's osteoporosis drug Fosamax
- Pfizer's hypertension drug Norvasc.
