Authorized generics (AGs) are generic drugs that–unlike independent generics–are sold by the brand-name drug manufacturer under a generic label. How big a role do these AGs play among Medicaid beneficiaries. A paper by Rome et al. (2023) aims to answer that using public Medicaid prescription use data between 2014 and 2020. Using these data, they find:
From 2014 to 2020, 1023 AGs accounted for 175 million filled Medicaid prescriptions. These represented 4% of Medicaid prescription drug use, and 16% of medication use among products with AGs available. Among 393 AGs for drugs without generic competition before 2014, 139 (35%) were marketed at least 1 year before independent generics or had no independent generic competition through December 2020…AGs represented a small share of Medicaid prescription drug use from 2014 to 2020, but when AGs were available, they accounted for sizeable market share.
The full article is here.