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Price for widely used cholesterol drug drops 90%
HealthPartners estimates $10 million annual savings
January 18, 2007
Bloomington, Minn — HealthPartners estimates that its drug costs will decrease by more than $10 million annually after the expiration of a court order that protected the price of simvastatin, a generic version of the cholesterol drug Zocor®. The expiration led to a price drop of 90% for simvastatin from $85 per month to $13 per month.
"This is the number two drug among our members so this price drop represents a significant savings," says Richard Bruzek, HealthPartners vice president of pharmacy services. About 10,000 HealthPartners members have prescriptions for simvastatin.
Use of simvastatin is part of an increased trend to use more generic drugs. Nearly two out of three prescriptions (64%) for HealthPartners members are for generic drugs, a significant increase from 50% in 2004. The average cost of a generic prescription is $23 compared to $130 for a brand name drug. Increased use of generics reduced HealthPartners member drug costs by $34.5 million last year.
In the upcoming year, patents are set to expire on other widely used brand name drugs including the sleep medication Ambien®, Norvasc®, prescribed for hypertension and Zyrtec®, prescribed for allergies.
About HealthPartners
Founded in 1957, the HealthPartners (www.healthpartners.com) family of healthcare companies serve more than one million medical and dental health plan members nationwide. It is the largest consumer-governed, nonprofit health care organization in the nation, providing care, coverage, research and education to improve the health of members, patients and the community. For the third year in a row, HealthPartners is rated one of the best commercial health plans in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, NCQA's "America's Best Health Plans 2007" and is ranked "Highest in Member Satisfaction among Commercial Health Plans in the Minnesota-Wisconsin Region" by J.D. Power and Associates.
Contact: Phone: 952-883-5308
Pager: 612-527-1921
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