Reduce Price to Improve Revenues and Margins
CHOICE 1 OBJECTIVE: RETAIN CUSTOMERS
CHOICE 2 SEGMENTS: TARGETED COMPETITOR SEGMENT / STANDARD LEADER PRICE AGAINST ANOTHER LOW-END COMPETITOR
CHOICE 3 COMPONENT: WAIVE FEES OR MAKE A ONE TIME OR PERIODIC PAYMENT
| No. | SIC | Year | Notes |
| 1 | 2834 | 2007 | Even as U.S. lawmakers seek new ways to rein in health-care spending, drug companies are quietly getting around these actions using a device for controlling prescription-drug costs: insurance co-payments. Drug makers are increasingly subsidizing these "co-pays" — the share of prescription costs that insured patients must pay out of their own pocket. Insurers require co-pays to give patients an incentive to be price-sensitive and pick generic drugs over pricier name brands. Pfizer started providing co-pay rebates for Lipitor two years ago. Lipitor was facing competition from three generic rivals in the same class of cholesterol-reducing drugs known as statins. Pfizer first gave patients as much as $15 off their co-pay each time they filled a prescription if they used a rebate card obtained through their doctor. This year, Pfizer started offering the cards directly to patients. The overall cost of a common dose of Lipitor is more than $1,400 a year, four to eight times more than its generic competitors. |
| 2 | 2834 | 2009 | Even as U.S. lawmakers seek new ways to rein in health-care spending, drug companies are quietly getting around these actions using a device for controlling prescription-drug costs: insurance co-payments. Drug makers are increasingly subsidizing these "copays" — the share of prescription costs that insured patients must pay out of their own pocket. Insurers require co-pays to give patients an incentive to be price-sensitive and pick generic drugs over pricier name brands. In April, Amgen increased its subsidies for Enbrel, promising to pay for patients' first six months of co-pays and to cap their out of pocket costs at $10 for each of the next six months. |
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