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As Patent Loss Looms, AstraZeneca Touts Replacement for Best-Selling Drug.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, March, 2001
By Charles Ornstein, The Dallas Morning News Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Mar. 11--WASHINGTON--Time is running short for the world's best-selling prescription drug.
The heartburn and ulcer drug Prilosec -- widely known as "the purple pill" -- will lose its patent protection in October. Consumers then will be able to buy generic alternatives for as little as half the current cost of $3.50 per pill.
So, drug maker AstraZeneca PLC has turned to a new purple pill, Nexium, which it touts as an even speedier heartburn reliever than Prilosec. But critics say the drug is little more than a marketing scheme to help AstraZeneca keep its $6.3 billion in Prilosec sales worldwide.
The critics say the drug maker's efforts to shift...
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