Salinas, CA Alzheimer's Patients Will Have Access To Generic Namenda
by Richard Kuehn on 12/12/14
A Federal judge yesterday issued a ruling blocking drug company Actavis from halting sales of the old version of Alzheimer’s drug Namenda so that it could make more money from a new version of the drug which has a longer patent life. It’s become common practice for companies to come out with a slightly tweaked version of a drug so that it can keep its name-brand drug on the market when new generic versions are allowed to be manufactured by competitors. For instance, the owner of the patent on the popular sleeping pill Ambien came out with a time-released version (Ambien-CR) in order to create new life for the Ambien brand. But Actavis took this strategy even one step further. It introduced Namenda XR, which is taken once per day rather than the old version of Namenda which was taken twice per day. By taking Namenda off the market and introducing Namenda XR before generic Namenda came to market, it would get patients switched to what was essentially a new drug which couldn’t be substituted for a generic by the pharmacist. “Our lawsuit against Actavis sends a clear message: Drug companies cannot illegally prioritize profits over patients,” New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman said.
