Patient savings programs, in particular co-pay card programs, continue to bear scrutiny across
the industry. Co-pay card programs are patient-based programs designed by manufacturers
to assist commercially insured and cash paying patients in affording their medications. Industry
stakeholders are especially critical of these programs, claiming they incentivize the use of highcost
therapies – including the purchase of branded drugs over their less expensive, generic
equivalents. In an effort to quantify the use of patient savings programs among brands that have
lost exclusivity on their patents (LOE) and have generic equivalents in the market, IQVIA identified
post-LOE brands in pharmacy claims data and measured co-pay card use within them.