MedVantx rolled out the first samples of generic atorvastatin to its network, which includes the 3,500 doctors in eight states. The 30-day samples will be distributed through the company’s MedStart Connect program, which MedVantx said “is a new tool to help physicians transition to accountable care and medical home delivery models, and provides convenience and affordability without ever having to go to a pharmacy.” Atorvastatin was, until November, available only as branded Lipitor, but multiple generics have since entered the market and prices have plummeted. US physicians wrote more than 45 million prescriptions for the drug in 2011.
Boehringer Ingelheim launched Combivent Respimat Inhalation Spray for COPD. It’s a new delivery mechanism for the dual-action drug, comprised of ipratropium bromide and albuterol, and does the last-generation Combivent MDI (Metered Dose Inhaler) one better by reducing the number of inhalations per dose from two to one and giving patients 30 days treatment per use compared with 25 days for Combivent MDI, “so that patients may require two less inhalers over the course of a year,” the company said.
