Generic Zocor gets FDA OK

US regulators approved competition for Merck & Co.'s Zocor, the world's second-biggest cholesterol drug, by granting the right to sell generic versions to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd.

Teva and Ranbaxy have exclusive rights to sell the generic versions for six months, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. Merck, trying to retain some market share, reached an agreement with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. of India to sell an unbranded version.

Generic forms of Zocor will mean lower costs for US insurance companies, employers, and patients because competition drives down a drug's price by 80 percent. Merck expects copies of Zocor, its biggest product, to cut revenue this year by $2 billion. By 2011, 70 top-selling brand-name drugs will lose their patent protection, cutting US prescription costs by $49 billion.