Plavix sales plummet in England
pharmafile | May 5, 2011 | News story | Sales and Marketing | BMS, Plavix, Sanofi-Aventis, clopidogrel
GP prescriptions for Plavix saw a significant drop in England last year as doctors opted for cheaper generic forms of the blockbuster drug.
In just 12 months Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb’s brand lost £90 million worth of sales and reduced NHS spending on cardiovascular drugs as a whole, such is the position of Plavix (clopidogrel).
GP prescribing of cardiovascular drugs fell by 6.8% year-on-year to £1.51 billion, with Plavix accounting for over two-thirds of the reduction.
The prescribing figures also show that GPs in England now spend the most on prescribing drugs for the central nervous system, such as AstraZeneca’s antipsychotic Seroquel and Pfizer/Eisia’s Alzheimer’s treatment Aricept, with sales reaching £1.87 billion.
The data comes from the annual NHS report on GP prescriptions and the report also showed the cost of fulfilling doctors’ prescriptions was up 3.5% to £8.83 billion.
Early loss for Plavix
Sanofi-Aventis/BMS’ blood thinner Plavix (clopidogrel) is still under patent in Europe until 2013, but the EMA has approved a number of generic forms of the drug since 2009.
Generic firms such as Teva and German-based Acino were able to capitalise on a hole in Sanofi’s patent for Plavix and develop their own versions with slightly different salt formulations.
As with Plavix, these drugs are now licenced for stroke and heart attack prevention as well as for acute coronary syndrome.
Because they are almost identical, many doctors now prescribe generic clopidogrel in an effort to save money.
This has been an ongoing trend for the last three years as the NHS struggles to find £20 billion in savings by 2015.
Ben Adams
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