Manufacturer: NovartisPrescribed for: Treatment of CancerU.S. patent expired in: February 2016A generic version of Novartis' blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec was launched by Sun Pharma in February of this year, and is said to cost about $60,000 for a year's course of treatment. In contrast, the brand Gleevec is priced at over $120,000 per year, according to PBIRx, a pharmacy consulting and auditing firm. In the recently released first quarter earnings report, Novartis whimpered about a 1.8 percentage point decline in core operating income margin in constant currencies due to loss of exclusivity on Gleevec. A 8 percentage point negative impact on pharmaceutical net sales during the quarter was blamed on Gleevec genericization in the U.S.Gleevec, which fetched $4.65 billion in revenue for Novartis last year, is expected to generate revenue of only $2.53 billion this year, according to DrugAnalyst Consensus Database.