OK ... I received a phone call from a young man at AstraZeneca this afternoon, to explain why there is a surcharge on their Arimidex medication, Australia wide.
They 'invented it' at great cost - ie developed it, tested it, made it available to women worldwide - and whilst they had the full patent on it - no-one else could make it. However, once the patent lapsed - anyone could make it (ie generic brands.) Once the generic brands were made available world wide at a cheaper price, more & more women swapped to the generic brands. So their yearly revenue took a dive.
Astrazeneca had an agreement with the Aust Gov that (eg if the full price was $35) the Aust Gov would charge say $5 on the PBS and pay the balance $30 to Astrazeneca per pack. As the generic brands became more popular - and were only charging the Gov eg $25 a pack - the Goc told AZ that they'd only receive $25 as well. So - they were $5 short. In agreement with the Gov, they are now allowed to charge $5 extra on top of the PBS to make up for the loss of revenue from their product.
He also told me there was no exemption on the surcharge that he was aware of.
I appreciated him for making the effort to contact me & explain it all to me. I'll see how I go on the generic brand & decide whether to go back to Arimidex, dependent of unusual side effects! (Hopefully, none!)
