Federal court halts Apotex attempt to sell generic Plavix

Sorry to hear that. My 85 year old mother has paid extremely high prices for Plavix for 10+ years now. She had open heart surgery recently. Plavix has truly helped her but it's a shame that Bristol-Myers continues to block the generics. Generics can help all individuals, employers and the government lower the escalating costs of medicines and health care. If the generic companies can produce the medicine for far less then also the BIG companies could do as well.

i will have to dicontinue takeing plavix soon if they dont lower the price to fit my budget

It's not that they are blocking the generics as much as they are trying to gain what they have earned. Sanofi-Aventis and BMS have spent BILLIONS of dollars in R&D to develop and get Plavix in production so lives can be saved and lengthened. Generics can afford to produce and sell for less because they steal patents. It is no different then buying a Rolex on the street. Yeah it is cheaper, but it is stolen. Allowing Generics to steal whatever and whenever they want will keep real pharma companies from producing lifesaving drugs. I realize the normal person doesn't see this, but they really should. Again, awarding thieves won't gain you much in the long run.

TODAY 10.03.2006, I PURCHASED 90 GENERIC PLAVIX FOR $360.00, which equates to $4.00 a pill! How much does BRAND NAME Plavix cost? bobmoor@gmail.com

Plavix is 4.00 a pill. Nice savings.

In case you are thinking about crossing the border to buy Plavix, you should know it is cheaper in Mexico. My last packet of 14 little pink pills cost me 553 pesos. At today's exchange rate of 10.83 pesos to $1, that's $3.65 a pill... All this and you get a vacation in Mexico! Who could ask for more?

That a boy!!!! Mexico here I come!

Actually, if I remember correctly, the pharma companies spend as much on marketing and detail people to visit DR. offices as they do on R&D. You may attribute that to normal business practices but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

BMS GUY wrote:

It's not that they are blocking the generics as much as they are trying to gain what they have earned. Sanofi-Aventis and BMS have spent BILLIONS of dollars in R&D to develop and get Plavix in production so lives can be saved and lengthened. Generics can afford to produce and sell for less because they steal patents. It is no different then buying a Rolex on the street. Yeah it is cheaper, but it is stolen. Allowing Generics to steal whatever and whenever they want will keep real pharma companies from producing lifesaving drugs. I realize the normal person doesn't see this, but they really should. Again, awarding thieves won't gain you much in the long run.

Generic companies do not steal patents. Nobody can steal a patent BMS Guy. It would be and is being termed "patent infringement" and I find what Bristol Meyers and Sanofi-Aventis are doing to be highly distasteful. The current estimates for the amount of money to bring a drug to market is about $1 billion (not billions), at the time Plavix was released the estimates were around $500-$800 million. I think they've re-couped their costs and then some and are just trying to stop the financial bleeding caused by the expiration of numerous other valuable patents. Secondly they obviously had at least a questionable patent (in terms of when it expired) in the first place if the FDA approved Apotex's ANDA in Jan 2006. Maybe they need a better team of lawyers reviewing their patent applications and NDA's for the correct length of marketing exclusivity in the future at Bristol and Sanofi so they don't run into challenges such as this. The patients on this medication deserve to have a cost saving generic available to them if the patent expired. This is just another shameful money grab by big Pharma at patient's expense.

Everyone must understand that if all drugs were allowed to go generic, there would be no more research and development with a net result of no new drugs! Did you get your flu shot this year? Why not just accept a flu shot which treats known viruses from 5 years ago? Wouldn't do you much good for now! If you all get your way, this is the future!

our company will file a pagraph IV ANDA against to Plavix

I agree with u

RX man wrote:

Generic companies do not steal patents. Nobody can steal a patent BMS Guy. It would be and is being termed "patent infringement" and I find what Bristol Meyers and Sanofi-Aventis are doing to be highly distasteful. The current estimates for the amount of money to bring a drug to market is about $1 billion (not billions), at the time Plavix was released the estimates were around $500-$800 million. I think they've re-couped their costs and then some and are just trying to stop the financial bleeding caused by the expiration of numerous other valuable patents. Secondly they obviously had at least a questionable patent (in terms of when it expired) in the first place if the FDA approved Apotex's ANDA in Jan 2006. Maybe they need a better team of lawyers reviewing their patent applications and NDA's for the correct length of marketing exclusivity in the future at Bristol and Sanofi so they don't run into challenges such as this. The patients on this medication deserve to have a cost saving generic available to them if the patent expired. This is just another shameful money grab by big Pharma at patient's expense.

They should halt the making of clopidogrel. I love generics and all, but it is a legal problem not the pills itself. If you invented something and another company made it before your patent ran out, you would be pissed. The same goes for anything. They didn't say they couldn't make or sell it in the future, they just released the med too early. And there are other meds besides plavix that are intended to treat the same thing, and they do have generics availble. Best thing is talk to your doctor

The company has spent billions, and continues to spend billions on producing life saving drugs. The industry as a whole spends 22 BILLION dollars a year on producing life saving drugs. Not every drug produced is a blockbuster. As a matter of fact RX man, only 1 in every 5-10 thousand compounds make it to the shelf. For example, a drug which 500 million was spent on over a 13 year period, could be shot down by the FDA. What do you think pays for the research that went into it? That's right, a large portion of the profits from Plavix. You make it sound like BMS and others come up with an idea for a drug, pay 500 million and then start counting the money rolling in. Very ignorant. 1 in every 5 dollars of revenue in the Pharma industry goes to R&D. Not only that, the HIGH costs you and others speak of... well guess what? Five to seven cents on the healthcare dollar are spent to pay for pharmaceuticals for out patients... THAT'S IT.

You and others who prescribe to the incorrect notion that Big Pharma is just out to rape the human population, really need to put it all in perspective. Large and broad investments are made by these companies to produce drugs that save lives that do not turn much of a profit (i.e. Atripla). So, take your "shameful" speach to someone who doesn't know better.

Keep supporting pirates like Apotex and watch the pipelines disappear. RX man, I'm sure you will be first in line to say, "if we can put a man on the moon, why can't we cure cancer?" Well pal, go ask thieves like Apotex why because we don't have any money to research it.

Hey BMS guy. Work for a healthcare PROVIDER for a while and get a view of what a different world it is. My company runs VERY tight margins, literally a tenth of the average PHARMA, yet manages to be a field leader in treatment research. Of course, we also spend a tenth of what you do on advertising, so maybe that's how we catch up. PHARMA=CROOKS. The R&D escuse is a red herring. The big3 Auto makers spend DOUBLE on R&D per given income compared to BMS or Sanofi.

BMS GUY wrote:

It's not that they are blocking the generics as much as they are trying to gain what they have earned. Sanofi-Aventis and BMS have spent BILLIONS of dollars in R&D to develop and get Plavix in production so lives can be saved and lengthened. Generics can afford to produce and sell for less because they steal patents. It is no different then buying a Rolex on the street. Yeah it is cheaper, but it is stolen. Allowing Generics to steal whatever and whenever they want will keep real pharma companies from producing lifesaving drugs. I realize the normal person doesn't see this, but they really should. Again, awarding thieves won't gain you much in the long run.

Generics also force pharmaceutical companies to work harder in developing new molecules.

New molecules? What? Do you mean compounds? Saving lives and running a successful business force pharmaceutical companies to develop new compounds, not generics. Pirates and scavengers like Apotex only motivate Pharma to hire more lawyers.

Listen. There is ignorance and voluntary ignorance. I can help the former but not the latter. I've given documented facts, but obviously I'm not swaying opinions, and frankly I didn't expect too. I guess we will all just have to agree to disagree.

Well I bid you all ado. Have a great holiday season.

Wish us luck in January at the trial!

My question is when does the patent run out. I like the price I was paying for the generic.

January of 2011