ANDA ACCESSIBILITY WILL FUEL Rx-TO-OTC SWITCHES

ANDA ACCESSIBILITY WILL FUEL Rx-TO-OTC SWITCHES, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals VP Frederic Price predicted at a Robert S. First, Inc. strategic planning conference on April 9. The ANDA bill now under consideration on the Hill, Price maintained, will improve the emotional climate for switches. As generic copies of pioneer products flood the market in such classes as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, there will be more pressure for pioneer firms to consider new marketing routes for the original products, and more opportunities for new mfrs. to try different approaches. "Although the OTC market has not shown the explosive growth of the Rx business," the Pfizer exec said, "it's started from a larger base and will grow at a rate of 10-11% per year, due to the trends to home health care, the willingness to self-mediate, more products shifting from Rx to OTC and more aggressive and creative messages to both professionals and consumers." Commenting on current margins in the Rx generic field, Price told the seminar that "for every dollar that a Pfizer patented product generates, a Pfizer multi-source product makes only 50›. And, on average, an industry generic makes 45›." While profit margins on the generic versions are half or less than pioneer products, Price pointed out, those margins are "still very significant" in terms of overall U.S. business margins.