The generic drug tidal wave became a tsunami in 2012, with some of the world's top-selling pharmaceuticals swamped by generic competition, and health plan payers scrambling to reap billions of dollars in financial savings.

Behind every prescription that lands at the pharmacy counter is a series of events that influence the prescriber’s decision. Powered by data from SDI Health, Drug Store News goes inside the examination room in this exclusive report, providing an in-depth look at the critical factors that shape pharmaceutical sales trends and shift market share from one drug to another in 10 key market segments.

Impax Labs has launched an authorized generic drug for migraine headaches under a partnership with AstraZeneca, Impax said.

A recent survey commissioned on behalf of a pharmacy benefit manager trade group found a high degree of satisfaction among Medicare Part D beneficiaries with preferred pharmacy plans.

Medicare Part D plans that create tiered networks of pharmacies for beneficiaries need more oversight amid reports that small and medium-sized pharmacies are being excluded from them, several senators wrote in a letter last week to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Association has promoted Jason Money to associate VP federal government affairs, the trade group said Monday.

Bipartisan legislation that would let pharmacists devote more time to Medicare beneficiaries and less to adjudicating claims with pharmacy benefit management firms was introduced in the U.S. Senate and won the backing of the National Community Pharmacists Association earlier this week.

A Walgreens survey found that 37% of Medicare Part D beneficiaries have daily concerns about their prescription drug costs, and 1-in-5 say they’ve had to make sacrifices, such as delaying filling a prescription or skipping doses, to help manage medication costs.

The Food and Drug Administration may soon find itself in another Plan-B-generated quandary — the complications around granting a three-year marketing exclusivity for a medicine that is both prescription-only and over-the-counter, according to an FDA Law Blog posted Sunday by Hyman, Phelps & McNamara.

Actavis' had $1.9 billion in sales in first quarter 2013, the drug maker said.

The Food and Drug Administration announced that it has approved an amended application submitted by Teva Women’s Health to market Plan B One-Step (active ingredient levonorgestrel) for use without a prescription by women 15 years and older.

Teens looking for something to get them high score drugs from friends, from friends of friends, from networks on campus or at school, or from dealers on the street. But increasingly, they’re also turning to another source: Mom and dad’s medicine cabinet.