Cost of prescription medicines

[Guest guest]

Thought CHA members would find the following interesting:

 

Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!)

 

Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs to more

information.

 

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.

 

The chart below speaks for itself.

 

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%

 

Norvasec 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 tablets): $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

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 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 knew should know about this. Please read the following and

pass it on.

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 price gouging by pharmacies. He

found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were

marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three

thousand percent! 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.

 

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.

 

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. (this is

true, I went there this

past Thursday and asked them). 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