Failure to Launch: Why Some Generics Don’t Take

Abstract

Prescription drug affordability is a growing health policy concern. In 2019, pharmaceutical spending accounted for an estimated 12.6% of overall health spending in the United States.1 The annual rise in US pharmaceutical costs consistently outpaces the consumer price index. In this context, much attention has been devoted to various strategies to mitigate or reign in pharmaceutical expenditures.2 Newer prescription drugs are inherently immune to free market competition on price owing to lengthy patent protections, which pose a considerable barrier to the entry of competitors.