Pfizer aims to keep one-third of Lipitor pie

As cholesterol fighter Lipitor goes generic, its maker Pfizer Inc is hoping to hold onto perhaps a third of the 3 million Americans who take the biggest-selling drug of all time.

Lipitor, which became available in 1997 and generated annual sales of $13 billion at its peak, reduces “bad” LDL cholesterol and the risk of heart attack and stroke. It loses U.S. patent protection on Wednesday.

Indian drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd is authorized to then sell its copycat form of Lipitor as the result of a settlement reached with Pfizer in 2008.

But an actual launch depends on whether U.S. regulators lift a ban that has kept Ranbaxy from exporting some products to the United States, following quality control lapses at the firm’s Indian factories.

Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc will sell an “authorized generic” form of Lipitor made by Pfizer.

The Ranbaxy and Watson generics will be the only competitors to branded Lipitor for six months, after which a number of other copycats may enter the market.

“More than one-third of patients currently taking Lipitor would like to stay on Lipitor,” David Simmons, president of emerging markets and established products for Pfizer, said on Tuesday, citing internal company research.

Pfizer is employing unprecedented tactics to hold onto as many Lipitor prescriptions as it can during those first six months. It plans to pull back on the aggressive marketing plan afterward, when a slew of other generics are expected to reach the market.

Why would patients prefer Lipitor even though Watson’s generic is identical to the branded product, and Ranbaxy’s generic has the same active ingredient?

“When I go into a pharmacy and if I’m going to be dispensed a generic, I have no idea where it is coming from,” Simmons said. “I know if I get Lipitor, I know it’s coming from Pfizer.”

Pfizer on Tuesday said it had reached deals with some drugstore chains and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) - firms that negotiate drug prices for companies and health plans - that will allow patients to obtain branded Lipitor at similar or even lower co-payments than those assigned for the Lipitor generics.

The arrangements also provide that health insurers will pay no more for branded Lipitor than for the generics, Simmons said.

He predicted the cost of the Lipitor generics will likely be 20 to 30 percent lower than the original price of Lipitor during the first six months, and fall dramatically afterward.

Pfizer is offering patients a card that covers all but $4 of their co-payment for Lipitor, up to a maximum discount of $50. It can be ordered at the website LipitorForYou.com.

Lipitor has chalked up more than $130 billion in sales during its 14 years on the market and many investors doubt another drug of its magnitude is likely to appear any time soon.

But industry experts say a major advance in treating diabetes, obesity or Alzheimer’s disease would have a good shot at matching or even eclipsing Lipitor’s gargantuan sales.

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(Reuters)