By LINDA A. JOHNSON
AP Business Writer
TRENTON, N.J. – If brand-name prescription medicines cost you as little as generic pills, which would you choose? A few drugmakers are betting Americans will stick with the name they know.
They’ve begun offering U.S. patients coupons to reduce copayments on brand-name medicines and compete with new generic versions of the drugs. The medicines include staples in the American medicine cabinet – cholesterol fighter Lipitor, blood thinner Plavix and blood pressure drug Diovan – along with drugs for depression and breast cancer.
Pfizer Inc. tested the new trend last year and now offers copay coupons that can bring insured patients six of its medicines for as little as $4 a month each. That includes Lipitor, which was taken by more than 3.5 million Americans until generic competition arrived last Nov. 30.