When a generic drug doesn't do much to lower costs for patients

A generic version of Copaxone, one of the most popular drugs to treat multiple sclerosis, didn't do much to lower costs for patients, NPR reports.

The big picture: MS drugs cost $70,000 a year, on average, and some prices have increased to five times what they were when the drugs were first approved by the FDA.

• The impact on MS drugs' prices after the generic was introduced was minimal, and Copaxone's price increased immediately.

The bottom line: "We've been, really been, looking to generics for some price relief, and we're probably not going to get it as quickly as we want," Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, told NPR.

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