• The Detroit News, Tuesday, August 21, 2007 1:15 PM

Where they once got gifts from the pharma giants to increase sales of new drugs, doctors are now being wooed by health insurance companies, which are offering cash incentives when they switch patients to cheaper generics. Insurers' motivation for the incentives is simple: cut costs. Generic drugs are much cheaper than brand-name medications.

In the face of stiff generic competition, pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer have ratcheted up ads for blockbuster drugs. Pfizer enlisted the face of artificial heart inventor Dr. Robert Jarvik to pitch Lipitor.

A recent Blue Care Network program paid 2,400 Michigan doctors $2 million for switching patients to generic cholesterol-lowering drugs from brand-name drugs like Lipitor and Crestor. The insurer said it saved nearly $5 million. And the HMO expects members who switched will save a total of $1 million from lower co-payments this year.

Most of his patients never knew about the incentive from the insurer, but doctors say that didn't change the benefit to them, since in most cases, generics work the same as the branded drug and are cheaper. In some cases, patients are coming in asking for a conversation about generics after the HMO sent patients a letter informing them brand-name co-payments would increase.

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