Who-a boy! The discussion about generics and generic prices is irrelevant. Why?
For one, there is no generic equivalent to Celebrex.
More importantly, I don't think most people have been talking about Celebrex taking over the generics market -- yet. Rather, Celebrex is priced comparably with OTHER PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN THE SAME CATEGORY. So the insurance companies which will not pay for drugs in that category (Celebrex or others in that price range) are not going to suddenly change policy, when it will cost them. That is, UNTIL they start to figure in the cost of hospital visits for ulcers due to non-Celebrex drugs.
If Celebrex is the same price as similar prescription drugs, physicians WILL choose the safer drug -- they basically have to. If people are using generic drugs which are more dangerous but cheaper, this will take some time to change...
The bottom line is Celebrex is now positioned to take over THIS ENTIRE CATEGORY of PRESCRIPTION drugs. When Celebrex was going to be priced higher, there was some question as to whether it would compete with cheaper prescription drugs. With the lower pricing, Monsanto wins...all other companies in this category of prescription drugs lose. Generics are a seperate issue, nothing has changed there...yet. |
