A year on, FDA expects 2017 generic approvals to generate $16 billion in savings

As part of its  efforts to promote the use of generics in the US healthcare system, the Food and Drug Administration has released a document outlining what it believes are the cost-savings associated with the use of copycat drugs approved last year.

The publication of the report is motivated by the fact that, while estimates of total patient savings attributed broadly to generics do exist, there are no publicly available estimates of cost savings attributed to generic approvals in 2017.

The  2017 review of generics finds that the FDA approved more generic drug applications than ever, with 843 fully approved and 184 tentatively approved applications.