Lipitor (generic name atorvastatin) is a small molecule drug in a class called statins (mentioned in Chapter 1), which lower LDL (bad) cholesterol and reduce incidence of heart attacks. Developed by the Warner-Lambert drug company and launched in 1996 by W-L and its partner Pfizer, Lipitor wasn’t the first statin to hit the market, but it quickly became recognized as the most effective. The drug reached $13 billion in peak sales and at the time was the best-selling pharmaceutical in history. Pfizer acquired W-L in 2000 for $90 billion (after a dramatic hostile takeover battle no less, but that’s a story for another course). Lipitor’s patent expired in November 2011.
To incentivize generic drugmakers to compete with originator products, whichever generics company files its application with the FDA first gets a sweet deal: they get to market the only generic version of the drug for six months — so the price of Lipitor did not immediately crater. (For a fascinating look at the lengths generic companies go to in order to win that lucrative 180-day exclusivity, we recommend Katherine Eban’s award-winning book “Bottle of Lies](https://www.amazon.com/Bottle-Lies-Inside-Story-Generic/dp/0062338781).”) But in May 2012, the floodgates of competition opened, and atorvastatin became and remains an inexpensive commodity drug.
According to Statistica, more than 116 million atorvastatin prescriptions were written in the US in 2021, making it the most common drug in America’s medicine cabinets! The story of Lipitor is an example of how the biotech social contract should play out. In the “generic drug armamentarium” illustrated below, you can see Lipitor has a lot of company.