Novartis "dark day": A Glivec / Gleevec le sale ya genérico /

Modest Price Cut Expected For Generic Version Of Cancer Pill Gleevec 

Pharmacies across the U.S. will begin receiving shipments of a generic form of the revolutionary cancer pill Gleevec... after the drug lost its patent protection... 

The generic version of drug, known as imatinib, is likely to cost about 30 percent less than brand-name Gleevec, says Kal Sundaram, the CEO of Sun Pharmaceuticals, the Mumbai, India-based company that will make the first generic. 

Specific prices will be negotiated with insurers and pharmacy wholesalers, he says. 

The launch is one move in the ongoing push and pull over rising drug prices. More than a dozen major drugs are losing their patent protection this year, leaving them open to competition from generics.

Ver:

EP Vantage 2016 Preview (III): Drugs off patent and Companies Risk

 Still, drug prices overall continue to climb. 

When Gleevec was launched by pharmaceutical giant Novartis in 2001 to treat chronic myeloid leukemia in adults, it was a huge advance in the treatment of that disease and in cancer therapy overall. The drug has since been approved to treat other types of leukemia and blood cancers, some rare skin cancers and some gastrointestinal tumors. Sales last year reached $4.7 billion worldwide and $2.5 billion in the U.S. 

While the launch of generic imatinib will undoubtedly cut the price of treatment, the effect may not be dramatic at first. 

Sundaram says he expects his medication to capture about 30 percent of the U.S. market over the next six months, leaving the rest to branded Gleevec. 

After that, generics from other companies may go on sale, which could lead to even lower prices. 

Ver: Novartis "dark day"

Novartis braces for multibillion-dollar generics hit as Gleevec copies launch

Since Gleevec was launched, Novartis has raised the price of Gleevec often, nudging it even higher in recent years. 

The price for one pill climbed from $92.74 in 2010 to $179.93 in 2014, according to data from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which spent almost $1 billion on Gleevec in 2014. 

A price cut of 30 percent would bring down the cost of the medicine to about what it was in 2013. (Más)

Ver todo sobre Glivec en PHARMACOSERÍAS 
y  sobre Gleevec