Combo Pills May Help Patients -- and Are Sure To Help Drug Firms

[Guest guest]

Two for Whom?

Combo Pills May Help Patients -- and Are Sure To Help Drug Firms

By Ault

Special to The Washington Post

Tuesday, February 17, 2004; Page HE01

Two, two, two drugs in one.

If pharmaceuticals were marketed like breath mints, that slogan might

begin appearing more often. Responding to market pressures, drug makers

have returned to a bygone era of combining two or more medications into

one easy-to-take pill. And this time around, judging by initial

reactions, the idea may be a bigger hit.

The most recent combination, Caduet, which was approved earlier this

month by the Food and Drug Administration, offers a unique new treatment

for the 30 million Americans who have both high blood pressure and high

cholesterol. By creating a new use for two of Pfizer's best-selling

drugs -- Lipitor (atorvastatin) for high cholesterol and Norvasc

(amlodipine besylate) for high blood pressure -- Caduet also adds

economic life to both. While Norvasc's patent expires in 2007 and

Lipitor's in 2017, the new product will have market protection until

2018.

There may be economic and medical benefits for many consumers, too,

although dosing, allergies and other concerns will make the drug

unsuitable for some. " Even though it is a major marketing ploy, " said

son, a cardiologist at the Washington Hospital Center, the

combination trend " is one of the advances that is helping the patient. "

For the rest of this article, please see:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46660-2004Feb16.html

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org