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Generic Atorvastatin and Health Care CostsTo the Editor: In their Perspective article on generic atorvastatin and health care costs, Jackevicius et al. (Jan.19 issue) 1 refer to agreements that we at Pfizer have reached with health plans and pharmacy benefit managers to ensure that patients can continue to have access to Lipitor in the 180-day period after the loss of market exclusivity.They ask "whether these agreements will discourage generics manufacturers from competing in the atorvastatin market."We believe our programs (the Lipitor for You program and Lipitor contracting strategies with payers and retail pharmacies) enhance competition by affording both patients and payers access to branded Lipitor at a cost that is at or lower than the cost of a generic during the 180-day period following the loss of market exclusivity.In addition to Lipitor, generic alternatives from Ranbaxy and Watson are also available.After the 180day period, we expect that multiple additional generics will enter the market and that the cost of generic products will decline appreciably.We appreciate the focus on ways to safely and effectively cut costs in the U.S. health care system.We believe we are doing just that by introducing greater competition to the marketplace earlier than would occur without our programs.
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