Avoidance of generic competition by Abbott Laboratories' fenofibrate franchise.

ABSTRACT: The ongoing debate concerning the efficacy of fenofibrate has overshadowed an important aspect of the drug's history: Abbott Laboratories, the maker of branded fenofibrate, has produced several bioequivalent reformulations that dominate the market, although generic fenofibrate has been available for almost a decade. This continued use of branded formulations, which cost twice as much as generic versions of fenofibrate, imposes an annual cost of approximately $700 million on the US health care system. Abbott Laboratories maintained its dominance of the fenofibrate market in part through a complex switching strategy involving the sequential launch of branded reformulations that had not been shown to be superior to the first-generation product and patent litigation that delayed the approval o

SUBMITTER: Downing NS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3636774 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature