Impact of genericization on drug prices and treatment value across 8 countries

An interesting study from Miquel Serra-Burriel et al. (2024) examines the impact of genericization on drug prices across 8 high-income countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK, and US). The authors used 2011-2020 IQVIA MIDAS data across 505 novel originator drugs. They found that:

Price decreases were statistically significant over the 8 years after patent expiration, with the fastest price declines observed in the US: 32% (95% CI, 24%-39%) in year 1 after patent expiration and 82% (95% CI, 71%-89%) in the 8 years after patent expiration. Estimates for other nations ranged from a decrease of 64% in Australia to 18% in Switzerland in the 8 years after expiration. The cost-effectiveness simulation model indicated that not accounting for generic entry into the market may produce biased incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of 40% to −40%, depending on the scenario.

You can read the full article here.