There is a site called askapatient.com that has reviews on that stuff.
Scary.

What a patent cliff may look like:

Does anyone actually have an idea when the generic will ship, because I have no friggin idea what to tell my patients.

I love that Pfizer is actually going to try to get this approved OTC, per WSJ article. Good luck with that.

My local Wal-Mart pharmacy has a sign up saying patients should be able to get it December 1.

BAD idea on the OTC market.

Statins require routine blood testing to check for liver damage and they have other possible side effects. My mother has gone through different cholesterol drugs due to one of the other side effects of Lipitor and Simvastatin.

NewportBarGuy: best article I've seen is in yesterday's WSJ. (Fark won't link it but the title is "A User's Guide to Generic Lipitor"

And they have a half-dozen articles about it on their blogs and new newstories, including who's selling the generics.

But I'm going to TM the bacon-flavored atorvastation calcium.

I'm holding out for Liptor-infused bacon.

Bacon flavored Lipitor, made with real bacon.

\the cause of, and solution to, all your artery clogging heart disease

NewportBarGuy: Does anyone actually have an idea when the generic will ship, because I have no friggin idea what to tell my patients.

I love that Pfizer is actually going to try to get this approved OTC, per WSJ article. Good luck with that.

They're actually shipping today. So i'm assuming they'll be available within a day or two at most pharmacies.

There was a report in my paper saying the Pfizer is offering patients discount cards to continue buying the brand name drug for the same price as a generic.

To me, this says something about the drug. If you can afford to lose money now, why did have to charge an arm an a leg before? I understand you have to recoup costs for research, blah blah blah. But at some point, the drug just becomes a money machine while people who can't afford it die.

Pythagoras: There was a report in my paper saying the Pfizer is offering patients discount cards to continue buying the brand name drug for the same price as a generic.

To me, this says something about the drug. If you can afford to lose money now, why did have to charge an arm an a leg before? I understand you have to recoup costs for research, blah blah blah. But at some point, the drug just becomes a money machine while people who can't afford it die.

I'm sorry, you were under some impression that big pharm was in it to help people?

Lipitor works great for me, keeps my chloresterol down to 150, and no side effects I can detect. I've even taken statin holidays to see if anything changed. Nope, the only thing that changes is my chloesterol rockets up.

So, bring forth the generic, so I may ingest it, and live happily ever after.....

Cutting carbohydrates is also effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, but the grain lobby doesn't want you to hear it.

Now eat your 5-8 servings of pasta a day and take your pills if you want to live.

Lipitor sales were nearly $4 billion from January to June, with 21 million prescriptions dispensed, according to IMS Health.



Four billion dollars in six months thanks to those six letters.

Damn. Just got a 3-month refill last week.

Won't get fooled again.

tricycleracer: What a patent cliff may look like:

[www.rsc.org image 400x375]

[www.camargoblog.com image 640x492]

Won't somebody *please* think of the poor pharmaceutical megacorporations? They're only the second or third most profitable industry in the world -- their CEOs are practically eating dog food on their solid gold yachts.

My scrip costs $4/month for Lipitor. I just use the lipitor 4 dollar co-pay card that my doc sent with my prescription. I'm glad the generic is out now so I can mail order the stuff tho.

tehbeermang: Cutting carbohydrates is also effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, but the grain lobby doesn't want you to hear it.
.

so does, you know, cutting your cholesterol intake. ;)

LemSkroob: tehbeermang: Cutting carbohydrates is also effective at lowering LDL cholesterol, but the grain lobby doesn't want you to hear it.
.

so does, you know, cutting your cholesterol intake. ;)

A number of clinical studies have shown dietary cholesterol has a negligible effect on blood serum cholesterol.

Those same studies show LDL and vLDL cholesterol goes hand in hand with chronically elevated blood sugar.

Eat your bacon and eggs. Hold the toast.

NewportBarGuy:

I'll just use the standard line "As soon as it comes in we will let you know." We use a lot of statins at the VA so I can see a huge switch to this as we get it in. Though, it will require an entirely new prescription from the primary care MD so that should be fun!

Eh? Why would it, unless the doc wrote "brand name only" or "no sub"?

meh.... call me when Viagra goes OTC