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Biotech / Medical : Sepracor-Looks very promising -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BDR who wrote (1885)	3/2/1999 11:17:00 PM
From: Jill	Respond to of 10280

OT-- Since this dialogue is getting a bit OT...actually I think I've lucked out w/ my HMO, which for some reason (big city?) actually has some very fine MDs on its roster, affiliated with universities here and has surprised me on occasion. I've got one of those plans where I can go inside (HMO) or outside (maj med), however. I see you're an M.D. and you're probably rightly frustrated with managed care--the system here's a mess, but that's a whole other conversation

To: BDR who wrote (1885)	3/2/1999 11:42:00 PM
From: rkrw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10280

I trust you know that a generic drug will not be substitutable for an ICE drug until the actual ICE generic is approved. Ala generic Prozac will not be substitutable for ICE Prozac. Further, for ICE drugs that reach the market before the parent goes generic, I expect the pricing will be at a discount to parent in order to quickly convert the market. I expect SGP will showcase this strategy. Most HMO's simply have a higher co-pay for patented drugs as a lure to use generic, yet their formularies are fairly liberal as to which drugs they'll cover, all in my experience. If the ICE drug shows improvements in clinical trials in efficacy and safety, I don't see HMO coverage as being an issue. Its a non issue for ICE drugs that are approved prior to parent generic competition. As big pharma catches on to the strategy I expect this will be the case more and more.