Ranbaxy's woes--and consumers' loss--means gain for Novartis, AstraZeneca and Roche

Three big patent expirations, three big generic rollouts, right? Not necessarily. Manufacturing snafus have delayed copycat versions of Novartis' ($NVS) blood pressure drug Diovan, AstraZeneca's ($AZN) stomach-acid remedy Nexium and Roche's ($RHHBY) antiviral drug Valcyte. That may be good for the drugmakers, but it's costing U.S. consumers billions. Report