To get a feel for this we looked at one pack of Lundbeck’s Cipralex and a pack of the generic Escitalopram as we wanted to see how the shortage and price rise of the generic in 2019 affected the brand. Although the drug tariff came down from £14.91 at the start of the 10-year period to £10.70 in June, attempting to shadow the generic market price all the way, the list price of the brand has remained the same at £14.91 throughout the ten year period.
During the shortage some patients would have received the brand as GPs changed their prescription from generic to brand. This should have benefited Lundbeck and encouraged their UK sales activity. The main thing we note is that before the shortage the market price of Cipralex Tabs 10mg 28 was falling year after year, probably under pressure from parallel imports, but after the shortage it stabilised and shows some signs that it is rising.
So it does look as if a generic shortage can be quite good for some branded products.
The data for this report all came from Wavedata’s BPPI service at https://www.wavedata.co.uk/pharma-pricing-data/
How have shortages of a generic affected the originator brand?
