Six billion dollars saved thanks to non-branded medicines. This is the result obtained in the United States where the Medicare plan, which provides free drug assistance to about 32 million people over 65 and disabled, cost 30% less than last financial year, which ended September 30, 2007. The federal program - reveals PharmaTimes - spent a total of 44 billion dollars to guarantee prescription drugs, a figure 12% less than in 2007. When Medicare began The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted in January 2006 that it would cost $74 billion by 2008, but current data contradict those estimates. And the merit seems to lie with generic medicines, which have been awarded the 64% of prescriptions, against the 61% within private insurance programs. In any case, according to experts, greater savings could be achieved thanks to the progressive transition to online prescriptions and the delivery service of medicines by mail, as well as when Congress approves the law enabling the Food and Drug Administration (Fda) to authorize the marketing of generic versions of biological medicines. While in Europe some biosimilars have already been approved by the EMEA, in the US they have not yet arrived on the market. At the moment, in fact, there is a bill (known as the Access to Life-Saving Medicine Act) which aims to create a specific system of follow-on biologics rules.
Source: "Pharmacist33"
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