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Uncle Sam is poised to authorize more than $1 billion to buy medicines and vaccines for the national pharmaceutical stockpile, and federal agencies are gearing up to spend millions more on research related to infectious disease. In response, the pharmaceutical industry is assessing how these developments may alter the way it does business.

Going Against The Grain

Achieving clinical excellence has always been the goal of the U.S. healthcare industry, even on the payer side.

In less than 2 weeks after the launch of generic fluoxetine in August, Merck-Medco had switched 85% of its mail-order Prozac prescriptions to generic versions of the antidepressant. It says its generic switch rate for retail Prozac scripts was 69% over the same time period.

Harvard Pilgrim HealthCare, Wellesley, MA-It's well accepted that the provision of drug samples influences physician prescribing practices. Annually, the pharmaceutical industry provides billions of dollars worth of drug samples to physicians' offices and studies have shown the effectiveness of sample medications in shaping physician prescribing patterns.

The Paperless Evolution

Evolution is a process that normally occurs in tiny increments, over extended periods of time. The changes often can't be identified until centuries or millennia have passed.

The World Health Organization projects that in less than 20 years, depression will be the leading cause of disability in women worldwide.