%0 Journal Article
%T Me-Too Drugs : Good or Bad?
%A Bhumika Yogi
%A Sujeet Gupta
%A Yogesh Murti
%A Devender Pathak
%J Pharmaceutical Reviews
%D 2008
%I 
%X drug that is structurally very similar to already known drugs, with only minor differences. The term "me-too" carries a negative connotation. However, me-too products may create competition and drive prices down1.The majority of the new products the industry puts out, are ¡°me-too¡± drugs, which are almost identical to current treatments but ¡°no better than drugs already on the market to treat the same condition.¡± Around 75 percent of new drugs approved by the FDA are me-too drugs. They can be less effective than current drugs, but as long as they¡¯re more effective than a placebo, they can get the regulatory green light2. This isn¡¯t surprising at all, as someone who works in the field, but these so-called ¡°me-too¡± drugs, which are reportedly better than their forebears, is driving costs. A ¡°me-too¡± drug is a drug that has its origins in another drug. Probably the most famous example of this is Prilosec (¡°The Purple Pill¡±) and Nexium (¡°Today¡¯s Purple Pill¡±). Prilosec¡¯s active ingredient is omeprazole. Nexium¡¯s active ingredient is called esomeprazole. The difference is that Nexium is the left-handed version of omeprazole. In chemistry, S stands for sinister, which means the molecular conformation has a left-handed orientation. (D would be right handed.) So this S-omeprazole is one half of the mixture that comprises its predecessor. By specifically picking only the S conformation, the drug is made more potent. This sounds great, but its efficacy is only marginally better than Prilosec-, which has a generic version, and costs about a third less than Nexium. Some other ¡°me-too¡± drugs are: Claritin (loratidine) and Clarinex (desloratidine), Celexa (citalopram) and Lexapro (escitalopram)3.
%U http://www.pharmainfo.net/reviews/me-too-drugs-good-or-bad