Good news in the health-care arena

First – if you haven’t heard, yet – 10 of the world’s top-selling drugs are going “off-patent” in the next year or so, which is expected to save American consumers and insurance companies quite a bit of money.

Prices on some top drugs could go down by as much as 80 percent. Industry experts are expecting to see about $1 billion in savings next year for consumers who take the cholesterol-fighting drug Lipitor.

That’s no small feat, given that Lipitor is the best-selling drug ever, accounting for $106 billion in sales over the last decade. New York-based Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) recorded global sales of $10.7 billion for Lipitor in 2010.

Many consumers already have switched to atrovastatin – a generic version of Lipitor – which is expected to retail for about 50 percent less than the brand-name drug, according to industry experts. Lipitor used to cost about $168 per month.

Pfizer is giving the generics a run for their money by offering Lipitor for $4 per month for the next couple of months. Patients can sign up online to get the deal under Pfizer’s Lipitor For You program. The drug company also is paying pharmacies to mail offers for a $4 co-pay card to patients, according to media reports.

Lipitor and other statin drugs lower the risk of stroke and heart attack. Statins work by decreasing the amount of artery-clogging cholesterol in the blood. Heart-related diseases are the No. 1 killer in the United States. 

If your health plan allows you to stay on Lipitor, you’ll probably pay the difference between the brand name and the generic cost, according to industry publications. Co-payments for Lipitor range from about $25 to $50, while co-payments for the generic drugs are about $10.

Thousands of people take Lipitor locally and in Colorado. Although specific statistics are not available for Boulder County, about 32 percent of all Colorado deaths came from heart disease in 2002, the most recent period for which information is available, according to statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Hospital pharmacies in Boulder County are watching the Lipitor situation.

Nanette Tinker, pharmacist at Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, suggests patients double-check with their doctors before switching to a generic.

“For 95 percent of the people out there, it doesn’t matter if they take a generic or a brand-name drug. But a few people out there can’t take different things, because of allergies,” Tinker said.

Other drugs coming off patent, nationally, and expected to become less expensive in the next year or two: Plavix, a blood thinner; Seroquel and Zyprexa, drugs used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; Actos, a drug to treat Type 2 diabetes; Enbrel, which treats rheumatoid arthritis; Singulair, which treats symptoms related to asthma and allergies; Levaquin, which treats pneumonia and other diseases; Concerta, which controls attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Protonix, which treats symptoms that cause the stomach to produce too much acid.

Mobile medical records

Secondly, Kaiser Permanente has taken the electronic medical records idea one step further – to your mobile device.

More than 500,000 patients in Colorado now have the capability to look up their health information on an iPhone or Android, if they have one. Kaiser Permanente rolled out the new mobile application Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Already, 229,000 Colorado Kaiser patients registered online to access the information, which is hosted at Kp.org. In Boulder Valley, about 38,000 Kaiser Permanente members use the service.

The new mobile application helps streamline things even more when it comes to booking appointments and renewing prescriptions, said Amy Whited, a Kaiser Permanente spokeswoman in Denver.

“It’s so easy. The nurse sends me an email and says the test result is negative,” Whited said. “Getting through to a doctor’s office can be frustrating.”

So far, the system has been used mostly for test results and getting prescriptions filled. A new Every Body Walk! mobile application that encourages patients to walk more also has grown rapidly in popularity since it was launched two months ago.

Kaiser Permanente patients had the capability to email their doctors for the last five years. In Colorado, the health carrier’s patients and doctors sent more than 500,000 emails back and forth in 2010 and got more than 616,000 prescriptions renewed online.

Beth Potter can be reached at 303-630-1944 or via email at bpotter@bcbr.com.

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