she was eager when doctors recommended the drug namenda for her husband's dementia.ary: i remember thinking, "i'll do whatever it takes." george: whatever it takes ended up costing between $300 and $400 a month out of pocket. and even as generic drugs similar to namenda came out, wright's husband kept taking the name brand. mary: i didn't think twice about keeping him on namenda xr. george: you just kept paying for it? mary: mm-hmm. george: many others did too. in 2015, a new york appellant court found behind the scenes, the makers of namenda engaged in so-called product hopping, pushing families like wright's to keep paying those brand name prices longer than they had to. michael carrier, professor in the school of law at rutgers camden, says the tactic started raising eyebrows in just the past 5 or 6 years. michael: a price that goes up a lot gets a lot of attention. what we don't notice is when the price stays high and doesn't come down. george: stays high longer than it has to. michael: exactly. george: the federal trade commission describes product hopping as a