Why propecia expensive

A larger question is whether Nexium should have even received patent protection in the first place. By legally prohibiting competition from generic alternatives, drug patents and FDA exclusivity periods lock in high prices for newer medications. While it is argued that patent restrictions provide a social benefit by encouraging research into new lifesaving drugs, it is clear that many drug patents do not provide such a benefit.

Nexium is just one of many me-too drugs that generate large pharmaceutical industry profits but have had only marginal pharmacological benefits. Other examples include the erectile dysfunction pills that followed Viagra and the additional cholesterol-reducing statins that came on the heels of Lipitor.

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Sign Up for our Weekly Email. Related Content Working Papers. Men who take the drug earlier in the balding process may notice faster results than those who are late into the balding process. You may find that using Propecia tablets or Finasteride tablets in combination with hair loss shampoo to be more effective at recovering hair. Do you need Propecia tablets for hair loss? Contact Co-operative Pharmacy's Online Doctor to begin your online consultation. If you require further assistance or have an enquiry for us then please email us at customerservices cooppharmacy.

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View Our Brands. Store Finder. So in this case, the substitution of branded 1mg finasteride Propecia with generic 5mg finasteride cannot come from the pharmacist alone. Surprisingly, however, Big HMO prohibits its physicians from prescribing 5 mg Proscar for the treatment of alopecia. According to a representative of Big HMO, the policy is in force because alopecia is a cosmetic condition, and the only way to ensure that patients are not using their prescription drug benefit for cosmetic purposes is to prohibit the prescription of 5 mg Proscar for alopecia in the first instance the same official would later provide a different reason, see Note 2 below.

Controlling health care costs is an important task, and it is quite sensible that serious medical conditions should receive priority over cosmetic ones. If doctors consider the intended use of the drug at the time of prescription, as they must, this information could be transmitted to the insurance company so as to ensure that only non-cosmetic uses are reimbursed. Such a policy could function as a less restrictive means to achieve the same result.

That would be the savings if insurance covered Propecia, which it usually does not. Instead, as a result of federal law, industry tactics, Big HMO prescription policies, and insurance reimbursement policies, the opposite occurs.

A drug company wins big. An insurance company pays nothing. All on the backs of the follicly-challenged, for whom this whole business is a bitter pill to swallow. Note 2: An alternate reason sometimes given for the use of 1mg Propecia rather than 5mg Proscar is the safety risk to a pregnant female that comes in contact with the powder created when a 5mg pill is cut into four pieces, which is a recognized concern in the FDA labeling and elsewhere.

However, as noted above, doctors have long prescribed the 5mg version with the intention that patients cut it into four pieces Propecia was approved in