Simvastatin switch savings
Executive Summary
Express Scripts member plans have saved $230 million on cholesterol-fighting drugs through increased generic utilization since January 2006, the pharmacy benefit manager reports April 26. The PBM aggressively promoted therapeutic switching from Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin) to Merck's Zocor (simvastatin) prior to the introduction of generic simvastatin (1"The Pink Sheet" Oct. 24, 2005, p. 19). With the launch of generic simvastatin and generic pravastatin (Bristol-Myers Squibb's Pravachol) in 2006, "use of generic cholesterol-fighting drugs has increased from eight percent to 44 percent," Express Scripts says...