Consumer Reports magazine, best known for comparing the prices and performance of cars, televisions and washing machines, is adding drugs to its coverage to help Americans save money on their health care.

Generic drugs can save people thousands of dollars a year compared with newer name brands and are often safer and just as effective, said the Consumer Union, which publishes the magazine.

“We’ve evaluated prescription drugs - not in the same way we rate cars, of course, but in a way that can help people choose in this confusing marketplace,” said Joel Gurin, executive vice president for the Consumers Union.

To start, the group has issued three reports - one on cholesterol-lowering statins, one on proton pump inhibitors that fight heartburn and stomach acid reflux, and a third on analgesics known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDS.

“Millions of consumers who take or need statins to moderately lower their cholesterol could save up to $3.50 a day by considering the only generic version available - lovastatin,” reads the report, available on the Internet at http://www.crbestbuydrugs.org/

“Annual savings for consumers could be as high as $1,300.”

But Pfizer, maker of the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering Lipitor, raised concerns. “We feel that their information in incomplete in the long run,” said Robert Popovian, senior director of Pfizer’s medical division.

For instance, he said, studies show that patients tend not to take lovastatin as directed, while for various reasons they do tend to take Lipitor as directed, he said.

HEARTBURN HEARTBREAK

Prescription drugs for treating heartburn and gastric reflux may also cost more and work no better than over-the-counter versions, Consumers Union said.

“Some of the highly advertised drugs in this category cost up to $8 a day,” the report reads. AstraZeneca Plc’s, over-the-counter Prilosec, costs 79 cents a day.

And big savings can come for patients who can tolerate aspirin, ibuprofen and other NSAIDS that are available cheaply over the counter. Such drugs can cause sometime deadly stomach bleeding, but not in most people.

Prescription drugs called COX-2 inhibitors cause less damage to the stomach, but they are expensive. And questions have been raised about whether they can cause heart attacks.

“With over 50 drugs available to treat arthritis and pain, consumers often end up with the high-priced, heavily advertised drugs that can cost as much as $300 a month,” the report says.

Consumers Union worked with the Oregon Health & Science University Evidence-based Practice Center to come up with the ratings. The university did its study as part of the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, a 12-state initiative to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of prescription drugs to save states money on Medicare programs.

It also sought input from experts such as Dr. Raymond Gibbons, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic and a board member of the American Heart Association, and Dr. Jeffrey Lisse, a rheumatologist at the University of Arizona School of Medicine.