powder prices

[Guest guest]

A survey of about 1/2 dozen mail order and school pharmacies shows that

professional prices for custom powder formulas range from $12 to $20 for

100 grams, about a week supply at fairly high dosage (14-15 grams per day)

.. If one maintains an in house pharmacy, the professional cost is often

less than $10 for 100 grams. Most of the mail order houses suggest

selling the herbs for $25 for 100 grams (which is about a $100 per month

supply at this high dose). It may seem fair to mark this up to $35 per

100 grams, but one should consider that even if you payed $20 for the

herbs, a 25% markup to just $25 means that the practitioner receives about

30% of the profits on the formula (25 minus the pharmacy cost of 10 = 15;

25 minus the clinic cost of 20 = 5, 5 is than 30% of 15). this is

considered a very reasonable share of profits when the mailorder pharmacy

does all the work. It is about what one gets on an contract arrangement

with a clinic that already maintains an in house pharmacy (15% of gross

sales = 30% of profits). If one maintains an inhouse pharmacy, you can

make a 100% profit at $20 per 100 grams even with a pharmacy staff.

 

why does this all matter. Because dosage matters and high price means

many patients wil lower their dose without permission or advice in order

to save money. this is already common practice with pharmaceuticals paid

out of pocket and I see it all the time with patients at the PCOM clinic.

Profiteering on herbs provides short term gain to the profiteer but

damages the credibility of the profession and may injur patients. It is

an ethical no brainer, in my opinion. the profession should take a stand

if patient injury is even remotely possible from this profiteering. BTW,

PCOM sells custom KPC powder formulas made by a local pharmacy for $25 for

100 grams, which our management considers adequate profit on our cost of

$20. PCOM is not known for giving away their products and services. Its

nice to know we are fair about herb prices (we sell our raw formulas for

$15 per week).

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein