The Pharmacy Chick

Comment by Pharmacy Mike

March 8, 2009 @ 9:49 pm

http://pharmacymike.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-drugs.html

I wrote a blog entry over a year ago about this very idea.

Here’s the thing… Nothing new is coming out! At least nothing worthwhile. Where are the next statins or ACE Inhibitors? Where’s the next class of drug that’s going to revolutionize the medication therapy of a particular disease state?

Torcetrapib (Pfizer’s HDL raiser) was supposed to be that drug, but it got canned in Phase III after probably a billion dollars were invested in it.

Ximelagatron (an oral direct thrombin inhibitor) was supposed to put Coumadin clinics out of business. A little bit of liver failure, and we’ve never heard about it since.

What else is on the horizon that is going to change the way we treat the major chronic disease states (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, heart failure)? That’s where the real money is, and there’s nothing even close to revolutionary coming out any time soon.

That begs the question… What happens when all these huge sellers all go generic? Pfizer is already cutting jobs in anticipation of Lipitor going generic. They have nothing to replace it. I don’t need an MBA to know that this can’t be good for their business.

If drug companies can’t make tons of money through selling their drugs, how will they fund future research? Where will our new drugs come from?

Maybe… just maybe… When these brand name manufacturers have no other drugs to turn to, they’ll be forced to drop their drug prices considerably in order to compete with generic competition.

That makes sense to me. I find the world rarely goes along with things that I think make sense.

Comment by chris

March 9, 2009 @ 6:34 am

We are currently awaiting the launch of Cialis (tadalafil) once a day for erectile dysfunction, on paper looks like a brilliant improvement in care. But I am finding it very hard to find anything concrete about its efficacy or its cost. do you have anything like that over the pond? and if so how does it compare?
Chris, We have Cialis daily over here now at 2.5 and 5mg tabs. I have sold it to two patients, one of which is a DR who wrote it for himself. Patient one tried both the 2.5 and the 5 and pronounced it a failure. He didn’t see any benefit whatsoever. I have not received feedback from the Dr. The retail price was something like $150 ish for the 30 days. we still sell more viagra than anything, some cialis but Levitra sales are “soft”..(sorry about the pun)

Comment by IAPHrmr

March 9, 2009 @ 8:55 am

Once daily Cialis is out, I have 2 people taking it, it has received mixed results. How about Kapidex (Dexlansoprazole) R-enantiomer of Prevacid. Or perhaps Uloric (Febuxostat)a xanthine oxidase inhibitor for treatment of gout. I know it is a new drug and is novel in MOA, but really can’t we just use allopurinol?

Comment by Cathy Lane RPh

March 9, 2009 @ 4:50 pm

I listened very carefully and thought I’d asked enough detailed questions of the Moxatag rep when she came ’round just before closing the other week. It seems as if it’s a new company using a new delayed-release technology they’d developed, but for the life of me I cannot remember the major selling point. Jenni said it was just indicated for strep throat, so when I pointed out that I figured the majority of patients with strep throat were kids for whom tablets are not usually indicated, and that when someone that has strep throat can barely swallow and asked if the tablet could be crushed, she showed me the tablet size and said patients would have no problem swallowing it, but that the dosage form technology their company had developed would not allow the drug to be crushed. I was a little confused about this niche market that would be paying an exorbitant prescription price for long-acting amoxicillin, and because of the patented pharmaceutical design, wondered how it would ever go generic and less expensive. But, like Pharmacy Mike, find much dissimilarity between what the ‘world’ and what I think makes sense. Excellent post, PC.

Comment by k

March 9, 2009 @ 6:12 pm

It’s a lot cheaper to put out a “son of” drug (e.g. Xyxal, son of Zyrtec; Clarinex, son of Claritin; Nuvigil, son of Provigil) than to go through all the research and testing required for a really new product. Why spend the big bucks when you don’t have to?

Comment by The Ole' Apothecary

March 9, 2009 @ 6:36 pm

On the subject of “everything old is new again,” the state of New Mexico is considering legislation to require its pharmacies to post prescription prices. What a wonderful new idea—NOT!! We had to do this in Maine and New Hampshire for years until those states respectively repealed their price billboard requirements. I guess the repealers came because most people used insurance and didn’t have to price prescriptions, but now perhaps there are fewer people with insurance and more of a need for price quotes. Yet, since when did pharmacies refuse to quote prescription prices? I thought most states required pharmacies to price prescriptions on request.

Comment by J. Nashville

March 9, 2009 @ 11:26 pm

There are only so many human diseases, maladies and conditions that can be healed. What does big pharma do once these have all been addressed? Invent new diseases. Perpetuate misery in order to provide proprietary, overpriced solutions. Paint perfectly acceptable and legitimately effective medications as sub-par. Put a harder shell on the same old drug so it dissolves/metabolizes just a little slower. It’s become a big shell game. Keep the public distracted just long enough to sell overpriced, overhyped and altogether unnecessary products. Then there’s the medication in search of a disease. Adderall, for instance. Amphetamine/dextroamphetamine is also notorious for inducing acid reflux, which is where the Nexium/Prevacid/$200 bottle of omeprazole (not to be confused with the inferior, OTC omeprazole) come in handy. That reminds me — I took my Adderall XR a little too late today and now I can’t sleep. And I have heartburn. I’m eating my prescription ranitidine out of a Pez dispenser and I can’t find my Ambien CR. Dangit.

Comment by MaKayla

March 10, 2009 @ 2:07 pm

Oh so how about that amrix and wait..dut dut dut Prevacid Isomer! Like we really need another PPI no better that prilosec!!!

Comment by LifeandtimesTech

March 10, 2009 @ 5:18 pm

Anyone else get their shiny new bottles of Kapidex? Oh boy! Prevacid isomers!

Must be the previcid is going off patent soon. Better switch all your patients to this new better medication!

Comment by chris

March 11, 2009 @ 6:23 am

The next “big thing” according to the reps anyway is a oxycodone/naxolone combination tablet that they want to push. Good idea if it wasnt so overpriced, but the funny part is they arent aiming it at opiate patients with gut side effects, no, their marketing is aimin it at people with back pain and arthritis and that it will replace the 8 co-codamol per day.

If even half my arthritis patients on co-codamol are switched to this I will scream and be snowed under by the controlled drug paperwork it entails. we give out approx 3000 co-codamol per week give or take and currently about 200 oxycodone per month, lets keep it that way.

Comment by Seriously

April 7, 2009 @ 9:32 pm

Are you kidding me. Do you know how many patients out there take PPi’s twice a day or take an H2 for breakthrough symptoms. Do you have any idea how much it cost to pay for a PPi that is taken twice a day? Much less how many countless phone calls are made to insurance companies to get approval for double dosing! Kapidex is a novel approach for patients that suffer with Gerd! The unique MOA is much needed in today’s society. Why in the world would you pay double for a medication when you can get better results with just one pill? And did I mention that it is cheaper than any other branded product that is out on the market today. Patent or no patent loss this drug is amazing and is saving patients money all across the board!I know because I was taking Nexium twice a day and it cost me a fortune every month, now I take Kapidex once a day and my co-pay has gone down over 75%!
No, I am not kidding you. Kapidex may work better for you but its nothing that special over Prevacid. Nexium didnt work for you. sorry, did you try Prevacid? Clearly, Nexium wasn’t formulary on your plan and apparently Kapidex is. If they are offering kickbacks (excuse me, rebates) to your insurance company, then they bought a spot on the formulary. And how convenient that about the time that Kapidex comes out, Takeda quit offering the loyalty cards for Prevacid. Don’t kid the kidder.
It has NO special MOA. Its delayed release D-Prevacid. Thats it. Its another PPI. Did you investigate its alleged dual layer? Look at the chart. Its a joke. Its hardly putting out 2 equal doses over time. It almost follows linear kinetics but for one small dip. And its not cheap AWP is almost $400/90.

Comment by Megan

June 19, 2009 @ 6:37 pm

How about Pexeva – paroxetine mesylate (or something like that) instead of the standard paroxetine HCl – and the new bromide salt of Bupropion?? Seriously. I know there might be a few people who genuinely benefit from this, but I doubt it’s enough people to support the millions that were spent in research to prove that this one was so much better than the last… Look at the pharmacokinetic profiles of zolpidem ir and ambien CR. Cripes. BigPharma needs to pull their heads out of their collective behinds and get something worthwhile down the pipe!!

Comment by Robert Jordan

December 26, 2009 @ 12:56 am

The drugs are becoming like the marketing of automobiles. Amoxicillin is your Ford Model T. Augmentin is the first improvement. Augmentin XR is the second generation improved product. Moxatag is the parallel development improved product on the original, amoxicillin. Do we really need any of these? Well, if we can allow ourselves to have slightly higher incidences of side effects and slightly less efficacy then, stick to the original. If side effects or efficacy are prioritized, then you need to choose your “Cadillac”. Plain and simple.