Studies show that, for example, Part D has lowered the retail price of generic medications by 19 percent.

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Teva the largest generic pharmaceutical company in the world, marketing about 400 generic medications and 50 brand-name drugs, with approximately 180 new generics awaiting FDA approval.

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The latest target is online pharmaceuticals and their affiliates providing medications such as generic or unlicensed Viagra, Nexium, or Lipitor, all of which are illegal for Americans to have mailed into the United States.

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For cholesterol lowering, brand-name Lipitor from Pfizer and Crestor from AstraZeneca are the most potent "statin" medications, but generic versions of Zocor and Mevacor from Merck, or Pravachol from Bristol-Myers Squibb are all proven to prevent heart attacks and may do just fine for you.

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We know a great deal about the short-term effects of Xanax (generic name is alprazolam) and other benzodiazepine medications on the brain.

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The big exception, he says, are statin medications like Lipitor, Crestor, Zocor, and Pravachol, most of which are now cheap and generic and have been shown to reduce heart attacks and deaths in big studies, and which are among the most commonly prescribed medicines.

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In a nutshell, generic drugs which are off patent that are costly to produce, but usually cheap to purchase, are generally the medications in short supply.

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