Cost of Prescription Drugs

[Guest guest]

This just came to me by way of a friend and I thought the information,

particularly the Costco info might be useful to others.

I don't know if Costco is a national chain - we live in California. Carol

Subject: From Dr.

IT'S ALL ABOUT MONEY!!!!

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.

BRAND NAME OF DRUG CONSUMER PRICE 100 TABS

COST OF GENERAL ACTIVE INGREDIENTS PERCENT MARKUP

Celebrex 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 1mg $136.79 $0.024 569,958%

Zestril 20 mg $89.89 $3.20 2,809%

Zithromax 600mg $1,482.19 $18.78 7,892%

Zocor 40mg $350.27 $8.63 4,059%

Zoloft 50mg $206.87 $1.75 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 or Eckerd'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 (then factor in

your co-pay). 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! Not to mention the attitudes from the pharmacy

staff and long lines one must deal with. Especially when you have a sick

child with a fever, ear pain or vomiting.

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 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 at the difference between what they charge

and what Tom Thumb, Kroger and Albertson's have been charging my patients.

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. If not then report them to

the FDA and BBB immediately.

I am asking each of you to please help me and yourself by copying this

letter, and pasting it onto everyone you know with an e-mail address. We

have to try to do something about this, one person at a time. If you don't

plan on jumping in and helping form this end then at least be smart enough

to buy " stock " in the big major drug manufacture's that make these drugs.

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