Buying Brand-Name Drugs Over Generics Raises Medicaid Costs
This article is for subscribers only.
Medicaid, the joint U.S.-state health program for the poor, spent $329 million extra in 2009 purchasing 20 brand-name drugs instead of available generic copies, according to an American Enterprise Institute report.
The study included contraceptives, respiratory medicines and antibiotics. Risperdal, New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson’s antipsychotic, prescribed in generic form exclusively would have saved $60 million in 2009, the report released today found. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., based in Petah Tikva, Israel, and Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Mylan Inc. make generic versions of the drug.