Doug Says:
I received this email and although it might be a bit off-topic
since no doubt many of our aging Vietnam vets take some of the
drugs listed below, and because this issue seems to be a
political issue this year, I thought this information will be
very interesting to all.
Email artice begins:
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 dr ugs 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 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.
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 re****ter 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 were 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 re****t, 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
'member****p' 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@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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