Someone is offering doctors a financial inducement (premium? kickback?) to write prescriptions for certain drugs at the expense of others. Only this time it's the insurers paying $100 a pop for switching patients from brand-name statins to generics. Pfizer, manufacturer of the statin Lipitor, the world's best-selling drug brand of all time, is pissed. They point to a study that says you are more likely to die if you switch to generic simvaststin than you are if you stay on Lipitor. [more inside]
posted by Mister_A on Jan 28, 2008 - 68 comments

Are You Generic? "Giving Brand-America the finger since 2001." The folks at Are You Generic have a few basic demands: "natural, unprocessed foods; ad-free space; trustworthy news sources; a healthy body image; promotion of the independents; and the spread of knowledge." They're getting their message across by means of "culture jams." Their first target was Starbucks in 2002. Some more recent actions are listed here, including Confessions of a Generic Magazine. But they have stuff for sale, so some might argue that they're not that much different than those they mock. Either way, their site does have a great collection of international street art.
posted by amyms on Mar 20, 2007 - 63 comments

One-link post about blog post without additional explanatory text
posted by beth on Apr 11, 2006 - 866 comments

An AP story says that generic drugs are cheaper than half price brand name drugs from Canada. What the FDA doesn't say is that most of the time, you can't get generics. The FDA acknowledges that there is a 20 year lag time due to patents. So, if you want an old drug, fine, but most of the time, I suggest, foreign drugs are still cheaper, if you can get them from a reputable source that hasn't been bullied yet.
posted by ajpresto on Jan 19, 2004 - 12 comments

Why is everybody so happy?
This Thursday, U.S. regulators approved numerous copycat versions of Prozac. I wonder how long it will be until Bayer makes Flinstones Chewable Prozac for teens.
posted by lheiskell on Aug 2, 2001 - 34 comments

US drug patients vs. the world in AIDS crisis. Brazil is making generic AIDS medicine based upon existing drugs created (and of course patented) by US drug companies. the catch? they are giving the drugs away FOR FREE. US Drug companies want their money. the UN agreed ,52 in favor and 1 not in favor, for brazil's strategy for dealing with the AIDS crisis. guess who opposed.
posted by Qambient on May 31, 2001 - 38 comments