The Wall Street Journal (12/16, Silverman, Subscription Publication) reports that a Federal judge has issued an injunction preventing Actavis PLC from removing the older version of the Namenda (memantine) Alzheimer’s medicine in favor of a newer version of the treatment. At issue is a tactic employed by pharmaceutical companies, called product hopping, in which a company releases a newer version of a drug and removes the older version before a generic version becomes available. Effectively, patients are forced into using the newer version.
Related Links:
— “Court Rules on Alzheimer’s Drug,” Ed Silverman, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2014.