Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[Pharmacydude]

HDG
My point is that when the pharmacist gets the prescription he/she has no way of knowing what the indication is and will dispense the least expensive equivalent molecule (generic IE in almost every case). It won’t matter at all what the technical label is. Pt has an Rx for V (or generic IE) the pharmacist dispenses the least expensive equivalent molecule because that is what most provider contracts require. We won’t know the indication and it wouldn’t change what we dispense even if we did. Even if generic IE doesn’t have the R-it label we would still dispense generic IE “off label” like V has been dispensed for the past 7 years off label.
As the guy behind the counter I just don’t see how I would know which product I “should” dispense and what negative repercussions I would have for handing out generic IE to a CVD Pt. Is Amarin going to file a lawsuit against each pharmacy?

The closest example (same drug, 2 different indications) I can think of was bupropion being sold as Zyban for smoking cessation and Wellbutrin as an antidepressant. Some insurance wouldn’t cover smoking cessation so docs just switched the Rx to Wellbutrin anyway. In the end they just dropped Zyban and everyone used Wellbutrin.

Bottom line: Pharmacists don’t know the indication so they dispense the least expensive molecule. 90% + will be generic IE regardless of what the technical label says.