Word: switchings
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...change could rock the $100 billion pharmaceutical industry. In the past, the drug companies decided when to ask to make a switch, a situation that critics say merely reinforced their patent protection and high prices. Now the FDA is considering making more decisions on its own, and the consequences could be enormous, affecting who pays for these drugs and how much, just as these issues are becoming politically explosive. The move could shift some costs that insurers now pay for drugs to consumers--although at least there would be no forms to fill...
...cheaply available. But analysts note that Merck's patent on Mevacor expires next year. And while Bristol-Myers Squibb's patent on Pravachol runs to 2005, generic versions of Mevacor will surely cut into Pravachol's sales, justifying Bristol-Myers' push for OTC too. An added benefit: a switch could give the maker exclusive selling rights on the drug for three more years. That's why medicines like the hair-loss treatment Rogaine (owned by Pharmacia Corp.) and the heartburn reliever Tagamet (SmithKline Beecham) moved from prescription to OTC before their patents expired. Although prices fall, unit volumes usually increase...
...Customers would have to ask a pharmacist for such drugs, like melatonin, and discuss their proper use. That's how it's done in Canada, says Dr. Ray Woolsey, chairman of the pharmacology department at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington. "Right now we have just an on-off switch for drugs--it's either over the counter or prescription," Woolsey says. "But for many drugs it would be better if we had a step in between...
...ideas, emotions and memories from one room to the next slows and eventually ceases. And sadly--as anyone who has ever watched a parent, a sibling, a spouse succumb to the spreading darkness knows--there is no way to stop the lights from turning off, no way to switch them back on once they've grown dim. At least...
...choppy market. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have made bets on the sector, investing in MidAmerican Energy and Avista, respectively. Stodgy, flat-footed utilities aren't going bankrupt, as predicted, but restructuring to tap the competitive markets. Given their background, though, it's not an easy switch. "These companies didn't consider themselves to have customers--they were called ratepayers," says Michael Egan, CFO of Peco Energy, the $5 billion Philadelphia-based giant that just merged with Unicom...