Lipitor Forever

Lipitor is one of the biggest selling drugs ever. Pfizer would like to milk it even though its patent expires in a few weeks, which gives the makers of generic drugs an opening. Pfizer is trying to close off that opening by making deals with pharmacy benefit managers, such as Medco. The deals are such that Pfizer is offering the benefit managers big discounts on Lipitor if the managers tell pharmacies that these generic drugs will not be covered. So, although your doctor may have prescribed a generic - and cheaper - replacement for Lipitor, pharmacies will be prevented from filling the prescription with anything other than Lipitor.