Pfizer and Over The Counter Lipitor

I read an article in today’s Wall Street Journal that discussed Pfizer trying to get the FDA to approve Lipitor for over the counter use. The patent for Lipitor expires by the end of this year and Pfizer wants to make sure that people are still aware of the drug. Drugs get a patent for a decade. After a decade the drug company loses the patent to make the drug and a generic substitute comes onto the market. People often say the generic is exactly like the original drug however this is a little misleading. The original drug can have a better quality delivery system, higher self life, and more effective even though the molecules for the original drug and the generic are the same.

Pfizer being very aware that Lipitor is going to become a generic drug wants to allow consumers to purchase the drug without the prescription (known as over the counter). I have always wondered why the FDA has not made more drugs over the counter. Many drugs that you need a prescription for are not very dangerous. Plus, if consumers really wanted to do harm they could just up the dose on over the counter prescriptions already.

There are benefits to putting prescription drugs on the market. The first if the drugs were allowed to be sold over the counter more people would have access to it. Drug stores and regular stores would have to compete on drugs which would reduce the price of drugs. Also another benefit would be since people are sometimes reluctant to go to the doctor you would provide them with the opportunity to take particular medicines.

The FDA worries about people taking the wrong dose or possible drug interactions which is understandable. People care more about their risk tolerance profiles than any bureaucrat. Plus, no doctor has perfect knowledge of any individual patient. Patients when they are in need seek information. I really don’t find the argument of “people don’t know what’s good for them” very compelling. Today, we have more information than leading doctors did 20 years ago. I would be more sympathetic to this argument if it were made decades ago.

Allowing people to take drugs without a doctor’s prescription would not only increase quality of life but lead to better information. Doctors could run their own trials with patients and measure the effects of the drugs on people. I don’t see why a drug should have to go through the FDA again for non-prescription use after the FDA approves it.