WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Lipitor goes generic

November 30, 2011

Since her heart attack four months ago, Audrey Saltzman, 83, has been taking Lipitor. With insurance it costs her about $40 a month.

"I still pay quite a bit with it," she said.

Now, Lipitor is going generic, which means Saltzman and three million other Lipitor users in the U.S. won't have to spend as much money for the world's best-selling, cholesterol-lowering pill.

Atorvastatin is the generic name for Lipitor and doctors say patients don't need to worry; the active ingredient is the same.

"People tend to be afraid that by choosing a generic they are somehow getting an inferior medication and that's really just not the case," said Dr. Tara Narula of Lenox Hill Hospital.

Lipitor brings in $11 billion a year for Pfizer. In an effort to hang on to some of the profits, Pfizer is offering deep discounts and incentives to patients and insurance companies, making Lipitor as cheap as or cheaper than the generic.

Pfizer is also offering insured patients a discount card to get Lipitor for just $4 a month. That's way less that the average co-pay for a typical generic drug.

Either way, Saltzman is glad she has cheaper options now.

"I'm on fixed income and I imagine I'll be taking it for the rest of my life," Saltzman said.

And what matters most is that the drug helps her heart stay healthy.

Pfizer is also behind the first Lipitor generic that's hitting the market under a different company name.