The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7429 p666
2 December 2006

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· Controlled drugs
· Pfizer products
· Counterfeit medicines
· The profession
· Statutory Committee

Letters to the Editor

Pfizer products

Deltacortril — the wrong target

From Mr J. Barber

C. F. Brewer and A. McCourt in their letter (PJ, 21 October, p480), suggest generic prescribing of a number of Pfizer brands as a means of protesting about the Pfizer and UniChem distribution arrangements. Unfortunately, in selecting Deltacortril they have chosen the wrong target on two counts.

First, Deltacortril is no longer a Pfizer product, having been acquired by Alliance Pharmaceuticals at the beginning of October (PJ, 14 October, p445).

Secondly, the Drug Tariff price for Deltacortril is significantly less than for generic enteric-coated prednisolone:

· Enteric-coated prednisolone — 2.5mg x 30 = 160p (equivalent to 5.3p per tablet) and 5mg x 30 = 188p (equivalent to 6.3p per tablet)

· Deltacortril — 2.5mg x 100 = 68p (equivalent to 0.7p per tablet) and 5mg x 100 = 122p (equivalent to 1.2p per tablet)

So, switching to generic enteric-coated prednisolone will have no effect on Pfizer and will result in an increase in direct drug costs.

John Barber
Director, Scientific Affairs
Alliance Pharmaceuticals Limited

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