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Pfizer sets new discount drug plan
Wednesday, July 7, 2004 Posted: 1504 GMT (2304 HKT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer,
announced Wednesday the launch of a comprehensive initiative to
enable 43 million uninsured Americans -- regardless of age or income
-- to get the company's medications free or "at significant
savings."
Pfizer sells medicines to treat such common medical conditions as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, depression, and diabetes.
It makes 11 of the top selling drugs in the U.S., including Lipitor,
Zoloft, Zyrtec, and Viagra,
according to NDCHealth data.
The company had sales of $32.3 billion worldwide in 2003, Forbes magazine said.
"We are providing choice, simplicity and expanded access to help Americans get the medicines they need," Chairman and Chief Executive Hank McKinnell said in a statement.
Analysts said part of Pfizer's motivation for the initiative could be an attempt to stem the tide of Americans going to Canada to get medications at discounted prices.
Enrolment in the plan called "Helpful Answers" begins in August when Pfizer will launch a Web site and toll-free number, the company said.
Pfizer listed the key elements of the plan:
Families making less than $45,000 per year (less than $31,000 for individuals) will receive average savings of 37 percent, and up to 50 percent off the average cash price at retail pharmacies for most Pfizer medicines.
Families making more than $45,000 per year (more than $31,000 for individuals) will receive an average savings of 15 percent, and up to 25 percent off the average cash price at retail pharmacies for most Pfizer medicines.
Families making less than $31,000 per year (less than $19,000 for individuals) can receive free Pfizer medicines from their physicians' offices.
Families making less than $31,000 (less than $19,000 for individuals) can receive free Pfizer medicines from eligible federally qualified community health centers and hospitals.
Low-income Medicare beneficiaries on all Medicare-approved drug discount
cards will have access to many Pfizer
medicines for a flat fee of $15 per prescription after they have
exhausted the $600 credit.
Pfizer said its initiative is supported by a number of government officials including Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
"Pfizer is helping those in dire need get the medicine they often require," Pfizer quoted Clinton as saying. "This effort holds the promise of helping people in real need, and that is vitally important." source :-http://edition.cnn.com | 
