Newly approved generics make meds more affordable.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced in late June that it had approved the first generic version of the cholesterol-lowering medication simvastatin (Zocor). The generic version of simvastatin is expected to cost about half of the $4.40 per pill price of its name-brand counterpart. Simvastatin was the fourth generic drug to be approved within the same week. The FDA also gave the green light to generic versions of finasteride 1 mg tablets (Propecia) for hair loss, finasteride 5 mg tablets (Proscar) for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men, and lamotrigine tablets (Lamictal) for epileptic seizures. The FDA estimates that increased competition from these generic drugs will save American consumers about $1 billion per year.