Generics made up almost 75% of prescriptions in the United Kingdom last year. Medical News Today grabbed the statistic from the Health and Social Care information Centre and said competition among Lipitor generics “delivered the greatest decrease in cost of any medicine over the last year.”

A key term to note for those looking for US parallels is generic competition: The New York Times pointed out earlier this month that generics are a bargain as long as four to five manufacturers are fighting over market share, otherwise generic drug prices can skyrocket, as they have with generic digoxin in the US.