Here’s an excerpt of an article in the New York Times:

. . . But Provigil will face generic competition in April 2012 under terms of an agreement Cephalon made with several generic drug manufacturers. The Federal Trade Commission has sued Cephalon, saying it paid off those generic manufacturers to delay the advent of competition.

Cephalon, which denies the charges, is trying to shift patients from Provigil, also known as modafinil, to the very similar but slightly longer-acting Nuvigil, or armodafinil. Nuvigil has patent protection until 2024, although generic drug companies are already moving to challenge those patents.

To get patients to shift, Cephalon has raised the wholesale price of Provigil to $13.60, from about $5.50 a pill five years ago, including a 29 percent increase in November. So Provigil is now 50 percent more expensive than Nuvigil.

And Cephalon is also trying to have Nuvigil approved for new uses beyond those of Provigil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/bu...2413.60&st=cse


The increase in price has nothing to do with how much it costs to produce the drug. It is simply a ploy to grab more money from sick people, and assure that they will continue to be able to do so until 2024.

So now, because of greed, people with MS will go broke trying to stay on medication that really helps them. Doesn't that really frost your cupcake? I know it does mine!