Theos-Talk Archives (March 2005 Message tt00294)

Of interest ?



Dallas



-----Original Message-----
From: Staarpower7





The following is incredible. Make sure to keep reading to the bottom where
it discusses Costco, Sam's Club, etc. 


The women who wrote this email and signed below are Federal Budget 
Analysts in Washington, DC 

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 State 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): $10237 
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 
I 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.oo ! 

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, Sam's Club and other discount volume stores 
consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs. I went 
to the discount store's website, 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, Comparing, 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
another discount store for $28.08. I would like to mention, that although
these are 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 email, and send 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 Email Address: 
<mailto:sdavis@docgov> sdavis@docgov 





Mary Palmer, Budget Analyst, Bureau of Economic Analysis Office of 
Budget &Finance; 



Voice: (202) 606-9295 










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