Lipitor® (
atorvastatin calcium) is currently protected by a patent that prevents any generic Lipitor from being manufactured. However, if you search the Internet for "generic Lipitor" or "generic atorvastatin" (which is the generic name for Lipitor), you may find a number of companies selling it. The fact is that these medicines may be fake, substandard, and potentially dangerous. You should not buy any generic form of Lipitor until there is an approved generic version available.
The first patent for Lipitor currently expires in March 2010. This is the earliest date that a generic version of Lipitor could become available. However, other circumstances could cause the exclusivity period to extend beyond 2010. This could include such things as other patents for specific
Lipitor uses or lawsuits. After the Lipitor patent expiration, several companies will most likely begin manufacturing a generic Lipitor drug.
Although there are no generic versions of Lipitor available, there are generic medications for other
statin medications, including
simvastatin,
lovastatin, and
pravastatin. To see if a
generic statin would work better for your situation, talk to your healthcare provider.
(Click Generic Lipitor for a more in-depth look at information on Lipitor patent expiration dates, warnings about buying any "fake" generic Lipitor products, and other generic versions of medications in the same class of drugs as Lipitor.)
