NEW YORK (AP) — New data show sales of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor plunged by half barely a week after the world's top-selling drug got its first U.S. generic competition.

That's despite a very aggressive effort by Lipitor maker Pfizer Inc. to keep patients on its pill, which once generated sales of $13 billion a year. Pfizer has been contracting with insurance plans to subsidize both patient copayments and costs for insurers, to keep their costs at or below what generic Lipitor would cost.

Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder says the drop in the number of Lipitor prescriptions filled is not as great as he expected.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

  • Critical BenefitsPRO information including cutting edge post-reform success strategies, access to educational webcasts and videos, resources from industry leaders, and informative Newsletters.
  • Exclusive discounts on ALM, BenefitsPRO magazine and BenefitsPRO.com events
  • Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.