PRESCRIPTION DRUGS DISCLOSURE

[Guest guest]

PRESCRIPTION DRUGS DISCLOSURE

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): $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 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 , 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.

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.

Budget Analyst

US Department of Commerce Room 6839

Office Ph: 202-482-4458

Office Fax: 202-482-5480

Email Address: sdavis@docgov

Palmer Budget

Analyst Bureau of Economic Analysis

Office of Budget & Finance

Voice: (202) 606-9295 Fax: (202) 606-5324