Prescription of memantine/donepezil: Influence of industry payments?

High prescription costs in industrialized countries, and foremost the U.S., are due not only to high development costs but to the pricing policy for patented medical products. The reformulation of existing molecules and the combination of existing drugs can have, in addition to a medical benefit, the advantage for the pharmaceutical manufacturer that market shares are maintained or even gained. While many new brand-name drugs have a clear medical benefit, there are also drugs and combinations that have so far been unable to demonstrate any additional benefit. Moreover, it is usual for such reformulations to come onto the market at a price many times higher than that of existing generics.1