July 9, 2010 – State Medicaid Programs Could Save $100 Million By Mandating Use Of Generics.

The Boston Globe's (7/9, Cooney) "White Coat Notes" blog reports that a study from Health Affairs found that some states are able to switch patients from brand-name to generic drugs more quickly than others when the drugs lose patent protection. "The difference has implications for expanding Medicaid coverage to more people after the national healthcare overhaul takes effect." For the study, researchers "looked at what happened when the patent for Zocor [simvastatin] expired in 2006 and generic versions...became available," and found that for "states that did not require patient consent for substituting" the generic, "98 percent of prescriptions were filled with the generic drug." The authors concluded that when other drugs go off patent "in the next few years, the savings could total $100 million nationwide for Medicaid programs if policies did not require patient consent."