AstraZeneca and the rise of cheap generic versions of popular medicines like Lipitor and Zocor, drug companies have fled the field.

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Lipitor could see its sales almost entirely eroded by cheap generic knockoffs when a key patent expires four years from now.

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The price disparity between the two drugs will only increase in 2006, when Pravachol loses patent protection. (Lipitor does not lose patent protection until 2010.) At that point, cheap generic Pravachol copycats are likely to flood the market.

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