It seems that patients are celebrating loss of major pharmaceutical companies, following a report that six of the 10 top-selling drugs will be seeing their expired drug patents in the near future. With this news making reverberations in the contours of the society, it’s being believed that price of generic drugs would see a major decline.

Among the major drugs are Lipitor, the cholesterol-lowering medication, which will lose its patent in November, while anti-psychotic Zyprexa will lose its patent in October, popular blood thinner Plavix in May 2012, and the rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis drug Enbrel in October 2012.

If EvaluatePharma, a London research firm, is to be believed, companies losing their drug patents between now and 2016 would be at a loss of $255 billion in global sales annually.

The Food and Drug administration (FDA) is of the opinion that generic drugs are equally effective as their branded counterparts. If doubtful safety record is concerned, even generic drugs are matchable to their branded versions.

However, researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported in the Annals of Neurology, in April, that there is a paltry 10% probability that shifting to a generic anti-epilepsy drug from a brand name would change the peak concentration that the drug reaches in the body.

It’s being advised to adopt cautious approach for consuming prescribed drug irrespective of them being branded or generic.