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Title: Prescription drugs Post by Sandy_C on Dec 6th, 2007, 4:58pm I'm doing a copy paste from an e-mail I just received. I have asked the source of the e-mail to see if he can give me a direct link to this article. So without a direct link, the below should be read with "salt". However, it should be read. Just thought it might be worth that grain of salt to someone. Sandy E-mail as received by me, Sandy: This is worth reading. Be sure to read to the end. You will be amazed. Let's hear it for Costco! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington, DC offices. Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America . Celebrex: 100 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60 Percent markup: 21,712% Claritin: 10 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71 Percent markup: 30,306% Keflex: 250 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88 Percent markup: 8,372% Lipitor: 20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80 Percent markup: 4,696% Norvasc: 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14 Percent markup: 134,493% Paxil: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60 Percent markup: 2,898% Prevacid: 30 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01 Percent markup: 34,136% Prilosec : 20 mg Consumer price (100 ta blets): $360.97 Cost of general active ingredients $0.52 Percent markup: 69,417% Prozac: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11 Percent markup: 224,973% Tenormin: 50 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13 Percent markup: 80,362% Vasotec: 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20 Percent markup: 51,185% Xanax: 1 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024 Percent markup: 569,958% Zestril:< /B> 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89 Cost of general active ingredients $3.20 Percent markup: 2,809 Zithromax: 600 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19 Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78 Percent markup: 7,892% Zocor: 40 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63 Percent markup: 4,059% Zoloft: 50 mg Consumer price: $206.87 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75 Percent markup: 11,821% Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. It pays to shop around! This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug prices gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation that some of these generic drugs we re marked up as much as 3,000% or more. So often we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.< /SPAN> The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are saving $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10! At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience I had to use the drug Compazine which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. < /B> I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address. Sharon L. Davis Budget Analyst U.S. Department of Commerce Room 6839 Office Ph: 202-482-4458 Office Fax: 202-482-5480 E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov < FONT face=Verdana size=4> |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by thomas on Dec 6th, 2007, 5:12pm Looks like it's for real. http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by fubar on Dec 6th, 2007, 5:13pm And you're surprised? Really? |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by PollyPocket on Dec 6th, 2007, 5:32pm Thanks for the info Sandy! I knew we were getting screwed, I just didnt realize how bad! sheesh :o |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by Charlie on Dec 6th, 2007, 7:49pm Drug companies are: EVIL http://www.netsync.net/users/charlies/gifs/white funny rage.gif Charlie |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by Rosybabe on Dec 6th, 2007, 7:59pm no wonder why I get my meds somewhere else... |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by Mosaicwench on Dec 6th, 2007, 9:30pm I don't work for a drug company, nor do I know anyone that does. While I don't condone mark-ups like this, I understand the reasoning behind them. The research and development costs that go into getting scrip drugs to market are astronomical. Without R&D, they'd be using the final consumers as guinea pigs. I believe that a lot of current market drugs are rushed through R&D too fast, before any real efficacy and side effects studies are analyzed. Then they have multiple lawsuits to pay damages over, due to side effects (or unforeseen effects) that might have been caught in R&D if they'd done it at a slower pace. Just offering another side of a very complicated argument. |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by Jonny on Dec 6th, 2007, 9:52pm on 12/06/07 at 21:30:26, Mosaicwench wrote:
Tell me where R&D fits in here? on 12/06/07 at 16:58:36, Sandy_C wrote:
So much for R&D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by Linda_Howell on Dec 6th, 2007, 9:55pm I am. Surprised, that is...Everyone knows that those Companys are making a profit. That's free enterprise. I am surprised of the amount I guess. This is despicable. |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by BarbaraD on Dec 7th, 2007, 6:09am Did anyone look up imitrex at costco? Might be a savings there ordering online. |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by deltadarlin on Dec 7th, 2007, 9:22am on 12/06/07 at 21:52:40, Jonny wrote:
Jonny, where to you think the generic drugs come from? |
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Title: Re: Prescription drugs Post by M.R. on Dec 7th, 2007, 11:21am Here is the link for online imitrex. No stat-doses though. When I checked there a year ago, I believe it was around $143.00 for the stat-dose. A good pharmacist from Rite-Aid called around and said the lowest she could find was $120.00. Didn't say where that was, but that was what they sold it to me for. That was when I was paying out-of-pocket. They may not give you that good of a price if you have co-pay. http://www.costco.com/Pharmacy/frameset.asp?trg=HCFrame.asp&hcban=Banner.asp&hctar=DrugInfo.asp&log=&rxbox=&fromscript=1&qf=&srch=i&Drug=IMITREX&Article=IMITREX Mike |
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