“Skinny labeling” on 15 generic drugs saved Medicare an estimated $14.6 billion from 2015-2021, but patent lawsuits may threaten the practice, according to an analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

During that period, Medicare spending on the 15 generic drugs was about $16.8 billion, Benjamin N. Rome of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and colleagues wrote. If these generic drugs had never been introduced, spending on the brand name versions would have topped $31.5 billion.

“Thus, skinny-label generic competition saved Medicare approximately $14.6 billion,” wrote Rome and co-authors.

The team identified 15 brand-name drugs with a first skinny label generic introduced from 2015-2019. Then, using the Medicare Part D Drug Spending Dashboard for 2015-2021, they looked at actual spending on each brand-name drug and the skinny-labeled generic. Finally, they estimated what spending would had been if generic competition had not been introduced.

Read the Annals of Internal Medicine analysis here.

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