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U.S. drug manufacturers won’t see any relief from tough market barriers in Australia, since U.S. trade representatives failed to convince that country to revise its price control system under a newly signed free trade agreement.
The average annual percentage growth in the amount Americans spend on prescription drugs is expected to continue to decline over the next decade for a variety of reasons, including a decrease in the number of new drugs and in direct-to-consumer advertising, according to a report released last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Hoping to discourage other states from following Pennsylvania’s lead, generic heavyweight Mylan Laboratories has dropped out of the state’s drug discount program for seniors, arguing the newly required 14 percent rebate on generic drugs is too high.
With more insurance plans adopting multitiered drug copays, the widening spread between the lowest-priced generic and the highest-priced nonpreferred brand is boosting the fortunes of generic firms, industry observers say.
U.S. and Australian trade negotiators have reached a historic free trade agreement, but drugmakers will still face tough market barriers in Australia after the U.S. failed to convince that country to loosen its drug price control system.
Democratic leaders in the House are demanding HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson provide to them by Feb. 17 all cost estimates associated with the new prescription drug benefit added to the Medicare program.
Generic drug advocates overseas say they face obstacles to increasing generic competition in their markets — something FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan has recently argued is necessary as part of a broader solution to lowering drug costs.
Some in the generic drug industry want the FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) to put a hold on new rules, like requiring additional bioequivalency (BE) studies, if it becomes clear the agency isn’t able to handle an increasing workload with a Bush administration-proposed fiscal 2005 budget that keeps funding levels flat.
Generic drugmaker Barr Pharmaceuticals last week reported a 79 percent increase in revenue during the last three months of 2003 compared to the year before — a result that topped other generic firms’ earnings results. Among the generic drugmakers recently reporting financials for the period ending Dec. 31, 2003, were the following: