According to IMS Health data, sales of Pfizer's Lipitor have leveled off after a steep drop following the launch of generic versions of the cholesterol-lowering drug at the beginning of December in the US, as reported Thursday on CNBC.

The figures show that at the end of December, sales of Lipitor were at just above a 37-percent market share, while the two generic versions of Lipitor that came on the market at the beginning of December, had gained a combined 59 percent of sales in the first full week of the month.

By the last week of December, the products from Ranbaxy and the authorised generic from Watson Pharmaceuticals only picked up another 4 percent between them.

"It's been pretty stable after the first few weeks," remarked Michael Kleinrock, research director at the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, adding that "normally you see a free fall. It's still early days."

Kleinrock suggested that having a brand-name company competing with generics, as Pfizer is doing now, should push down prices for all the versions.

"It's clear that every company's watching to see if this works," he said, because previously brand-name drugmakers have accepted rapid loss of sales as inevitable. "This could have repercussions," he said.


(Ref: CNBC)