Drug cost

[Guest guest]

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the activeingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must costalot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did asearchof offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredientsfoundin drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues ofLife Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the UnitedStatescontain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independentinvestigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtainedtheactual price of active ingredients used in some of the most populardrugssold in America. The chart below speaks for itself.BRAND NAME OF DRUG - CONSUMER PRICES 100 TABS -COST OF GENERAL ACTIVE INGREDIENTS - PERCENT MARKUPDrug Your Cost Cost/Mnf. MarkupCelebrex 100 mg $130.27 $0.60 21,712%Claritin 10 mg $215.17 $0.71 30,306%Keflex 250 mg $157.39 $1.88 8,372%Lipitor 20 mg $272.37 $5.80 4,696%Norvasc 10 mg $188.29 $0.14 34,493%Paxil 20 mg $220.27 $7.60 2,898%Prevacid 30 mg $44.77 $1.01 34,136%Prilosec 20 mg $360.97 $0.52 69,417%Prozac 20 mg $247.47 $0.11 224,973%Tenormin 50 mg $104.47 $0.13 80,362%Vasotec 10 mg $102.37 $0.20 51,185%Xanax 1 mg $136.79 $0.024 569,958%Zestril 20 mg $89.89 $3.20 2,809%Zithromax 600 mg $1,482.19 $18.78 7,892%Zocor 40 mg $350.27 $8.63 4,059%Zoloft 50 mg $206.87 $1.75 11,821%Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thoughteveryone Iknew should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. Itpays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they canafford to put a Walgreens on every corner.....On Monday night, Steve , an investigative reporter for channel 7Newsin Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. Hefound in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were markedupas much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo..... Three thousandpercent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost ofdrugs,and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lieswiththe pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy aprescriptiondrug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. Thepharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, theywouldonly cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What thePharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may haveonlycost 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 thispractice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over theircost for the generic drugs. I went to the Costco site, where you canlookup any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store pricesareconsistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give youoneexample from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, whichhelps 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 Icould have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, Ipaid$72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08. I would like tomention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOThaveto be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federallyregulatedsubstance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use thepharmacy, and they will let you in. B. Waldorf, M.D.308 Walk View CourtApopka, FL 32703