Letter to Members

Letter to Members

Dear Guys,

How’s going? Hope you feel good in this cold day!

I believe all of us know Lipitor and now taking it frequently, here are news about Lipitor and I know you would like to hear.

Pfizer’s Lipitor was so nice that we choose to take before. The company made every efforts to brand its Lipitor and we know it is really good to use. Now the most important thing is, the Lipitor will move from a lower price to a higher price while we cannot do anything about that since the decision was made by the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Advisory Committee. But--

We have a new choice—the generic lipid regulator. Don’t worry it is not a fake drug, just because of the patents expiration, drag companies other than Pfizer can produce generic versions. You may heard that the generic prescriptions increased every year quickly, for example, nearly 6% in 2009 and covered 75% of all prescriptions written in the U.S. The generic versions are safe and mature enough.

I know you guys may not care about the money but just the result, or just habit to take Lipitor. The clinical trials established that they were as safe and as effective as brand name drugs such as Lipitor. Why we need to know this? It’s the time to switch.

You know GHCM used a three-tier system for co-pays depends on the plan and prescription. Raising of the co-pay (to tier3 which is 100% higher than tier1) is made for Lipitor due to Lipitor’s price changing. It’s the time to make a better choice.

Below are lists of the generic substitutes for Lipitor that all belong to Tier1. You guys could google them, and ask any doctors about them to understand more.

• Lovastatin (generic for Mevacor)
• Pravastatin (generic for Pravachol)
• Simvastatin (generic for Zocor)

Any questions and comments, please just tell me. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Ida Lapino

Medical Director