Think you pay too much for prescription meds? This will make you mad

[anonymous]

Subject: Hurray for Costco

This is a "shame on America" for it's medical greed!!!

Do you have a Costco near you?

Let's hear it for Costco! This is mind-boggling. Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman who 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 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 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 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 cost him only $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 email, and sending it to everyone you know with an email address.

Sharon L. Davis Budget Analyst US Department of
Commerce Room 6839 Office Ph: 202-482-4458 Office
Fax: 202-482-5480

 

[anonymous]

Isn't a major reason for the cost due to the research that goes into geting these drugs on the market.

 

[rose4cale]

I went to the site and there is NOT a significant difference in price between Costco and my current pharmacy for enzymes.

 

[anonymous]

All I can say is OH CANADA! Where my government feels it is more important to pay for everyones health care and for all my medications since I have CF instead of buying missles and bombs!

 

[thefrogprincess]

That report said that Costco charged less for GENERIC brands. Most CF meds don't have a generic equivilent because they are such a specialized treatment.

 

[perky79]

The reason for prescription meds is due to the cost of research. It takes 20 years to develop a drug and get it in the clinical trial stage(for most drugs). A good analogy for the cost of meds is comparing it to oil drilling. You can drill 10 dry holes before you have a successful drill. that 1 good drill has to make up for the cost of all those dry holes. And as for the investors they need to make money as well. If there is no market for investors there are no new drugs. Make sure you do your research before you accuse anyone of anything.

 

[anonymous]

A few comments here
#1 I think possibly America could spend more money here at home to take care of their own instead
of sending millions, probably billions overseas to 3rd world countries that have a hard time making
it. I'm glad we spend our money on missles and bombs and I'll bet our neighbors up in Canada
sleep a little better at night knowing that that technology and protection is at their
back door. Now that we are preventing some of the terrorists from coming into our country via
Canada, I can sleep a little better at night too.
#2 Yes, it does take money to research drugs, but the drug companies are raping us and there's
no denying that. Those mark ups are outrageous. And look at all the money they spend on
advertising and the gifts to doctors, not to mention the salary/commissions those reps that peddle
the drugs to doctors make.
#3 I'll get off my soap box now!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

American, and proud of it.

 

[anonymous]

A couple other points that haven't been brought up. First of all, a large portion of drug research is paid for by American drug companies. However, other countries with socialized medicine put a cap on the drug prices. These caps, obviously severely limit the profit that drug companies make on these drugs in those countries. In order to "make up" for this, the drug companies charge ridiculously high profits to US consumers since there are no similiar caps on US drugs. Then, consumers from countries with "socialized" medicine and caps on drug prices rave about their country's cost control and rant about US drug costs while in many cases Americans are paying for their cost controls through higher prices in OUR country.

Of course, that's not to say that I agree with the gouging that the drug companies do. Personally, I think if they did LESS advertising of drugs, LESS wooing doctors, and were just plain LESS greedy, we'd see a big reduction in prices. I honestly think drug advertising is a total waste of money. The average consumer is not well informed enough to determine whether they truelly need a drug just because the commercial says they do. Those of us who are informed well enough to make educated decisions do NOT do so based on commercials or printed ads but rather by reading research, etc on the drug. I say get rid of advertising for prescription drugs (at least advertising to the consumer.)

And then, of course, theres the greed. Let's face it, the more people have (ie executives, etc.), the more they want. It's no secret that some people in America make entirely too much. What is so special about a corporate exec that he deserves to makes tens of millions of dollars per year in salary???? If you ask me, stop allowing companies to deduct such high salaries for tax purposes and you'll see a lowering of the top wages. What I mean basically is come up with a cap of how much you can charge for tax purposes as salary to ONE person. You'll see those top salaries come down real quick...

Those are just my thoughts...

 

[perky79]

Investing in a new drug (which hasnt even been created yet) is a very risky investment. Why would an investor risk a lot if the return wasnt going to be great? I am an investor myself (real estate) and I would want as much security as possible when I invest. The promise of advertising is a big security blanket. Congress allows drug companies to advertise because they know how devestating it would be to the drug market. It would plumit. And as for expecting the CEO's and Executives to take give a cut of there success because you are lower on the income bracket is ridiculous. I am 20 years old, started with nothing and no ones help and I have built a net worth of $250,000. My point is those CEO's and Executives deserve big paypout when they invest in the drug market. Without those investors there are no new drugs.