Expanding cholesterol drug market leads to increased health plan costs; get ready for super-statins

Drug Cost Management Report, Nov, 2002

It's easy to see why drugmakers are referring to their new-generation statins as "superstatins." Super is what they'll have to be in order to take on Lipitor, which is projected to hit its peak in 2005 with $8.5 billion in sales.

If the new drugs are less than stellar in terms of clinical performance, they will at least bring competition that health plans may be able to leverage for better pricing. And truly superior cholesterol-reducing action can potentially have a positive effect on health care costs, because heart disease is one of the highest-cost categories from inpatient, outpatient, and pharmaceutical standpoints. Either way, superstatins may not be all bad news for payers.