james d milton

Since Lamictal received FDA approval on December 27, 1994, its 7-year
patent protection should have been up on December 27, 2001. I do not
know why there has not been a generic brought out for lamotrigine. It is
a popular drug - though not as popular as Neurontin (gabapentin).

Prices in Canada and Mexico (or anywhere else in the world) are bound to
be less expensive than in the US! Pharmaceutical companies know that
many people have insurance companies or Medicaid that will pay whatever
outrageous prices they demand.

If you meet certain financial requirements and do not have prescription
insurance, you can get free or low cost meds through these websites:

Prescription Drug Patient Assistance Programs:
http://www.needymeds.com
http://www.themedicineprogram.com
http://www.mhsanctuary.com/resources/freemed.htm


Best wishes for finding what you want from,

James

colleen

When meds are approved for new uses, the patent is extended AFAIK. That is
why there is so much pressure to increase uses as in the pressure to push
Neurontin. If the patent wasn't extended you wouldn't see the push to find
new uses.
c

james d milton

That brings up some interesting questions. Since Lamictal was recently
approved for the treatment of BP, then there was a window of opportunity
of about 18 months for some other pharmaceutical company to have brought
out a generic for lamotrigine. What if they had??? Would they be forced
to remove their generic from the market? Or could physicians only write
prescriptions for the less expensive generic for treating seizures?

This sounds like a question for lawyers and the courts to wrangle with.
About the only sure thing is that we would end up paying higher prices.
<SIGH!>

BTW another popular med for treating BP, Topamax was FDA approved for
seizures on December 24, 1996. So its 7-year patent protection will be
up this Christmas. Is Ortho-McNeil hoping that Santa Claus will bring
them FDA approval for treating BP?


James - The Speculator

colleen

I think drug patents have a shorter life span. I think it's 7-10 years.

c

chip

"Patents granted after the June 8, 1995 date now have a 20-year patent life
from the date of the first filing of the patent application."

from: http://www.fda.gov/cder/about/smallbiz/patent_term.htm

Chip

james d milton

Apparently it is a bit more complicated than a flat 20 years from the
date of the first filing of the drug patent:

================================================== ======================

3. What is the maximum amount of time that the patent can be extended?

A maximum of 5 years can be restored to the patent. In all cases, the
total patent life for the product with the patent extension cannot
exceed 14 years from the product’s approval date, or in other words, 14
years of potential marketing time. If the patent life of the product
after approval has 14 or more years, the product would not be eligible
for patent extension.

================================================== ======================

Since the patent filing date precedes the FDA approval date usually by
many years (more than 6), IMO it is this 14-year marketing period
(before a generic can be brought out) which is the likely relevant time
period.

If my recollection is correct, this 14-year marketing period used to be
a much more reasonable 7 years. So once again WE HAVE BEEN SCREWED BY
THE GOVERNMENT!!!

I just noticed that the above URL has "smallbiz" in it. Surely Pfizer
cannot be considered a small business??? Do big pharmaceutical companies
have the same protections as small ones?


James - The Cheated

chip

My pharmacology book says it "may be 5 years or even longer".


If a pharmaceutical company is not able to the sole marketer of a drug for
14 years there is less incentive to come out with new drugs. The average
cost of bringing a new drug from conception to market is about 1/2 billion
dollars. And some drugs are flops or are recalled.


There's only one law, and it applies to all.


Chip

ghost

I get 100 150mg tablets of generic (Apotec) lamotrigine for around $141.00
(US), incl. shipping, from Canada Drugs... way better than the New York
price of $350.00+ for 100 100mg tablets.

Jim M.