Guest guest Posted July 31, 2004 Report Share Posted July 31, 2004 Ingredients in prescription medications? Some people think it mustcost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. Wedid a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply theactive ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we haverevealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentageof drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients madein other countries.In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companiesreally make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients usedin some of the most popular drugs sold in America. The chart belowspeaks for itself.Celebrex 100 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $130.27Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60Percent markup: 21,712%Claritin 10 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71Percent markup: 30,306%Keflex 250 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88Percent markup: 8,372%Lipitor 20 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80Percent markup: 4,696%Norvasc 10 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $188.29Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14Percent markup: 134,493%Paxil 20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $220.27Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60Percent markup: 2,898%Prevacid 30 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $44.77Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01Perecent markup: 34,136%Prilosec 20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $360.97Cost of general active ingredients $0.52Percent markup: 69,417%Prozac 20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11Percent markup: 224,973%Tenormin 50 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $104.47Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13Percent markup: 80,362%Vasotec 10 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $102.37Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20Percent markup: 51,185%Xanax 1 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024Percent markup: 569,958%Zestril 20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) $89.89Cost of general active ingredients $3.20Percent markup: 2,809%Zithromax 600 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78Percent markup: 7,892%Zocor 40 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $350.27Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63Percent markup: 4,059%Zoloft 50 mgConsumer price: $206.87Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75Percent markup: 11,821%Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thoughteveryone I knew should know about this. Please read the followingand pass it on.It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to whythey can afford to put a Walgreens on every corner..................On Monday night, Steve , an investigative reporter for channel7 News in Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging bypharmacies.He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs weremarked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not atypo.....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 lieswith the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy aprescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for100 pills.The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the genericequivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are"saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those100 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 thispractice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little overtheir cost for the generic drugs.I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and getits online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistentwith the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example frommy own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helpsprevent nausea in chemo patients. I used the generic equivalent,which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price atCostco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of mypain 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" typestore, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at thedoor that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (thisis true, I went there this past Thursday and asked them.)I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter,and pasting it into your own email, and send it to everyone you knowwith an email address.Sharon L. Budget AnalystU.S. Department of CommerceRoom 6839Office Ph: 202-482-4458Office Fax: 202-482-5480 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 The " retail " cost of Xolair roughly $500 per vial. So for those of us on the max dose - 3 vials every two weeks - that would be $36,000 per year. Two vials every two weeks would be $24,000 per year. And so on. Addy Group co-owner > > Does anyone know what the cost of Xolair is (without insurance or > financial assistance)? My doctor told me it is very expensive and I > was wondering how expensive. > > Kim > (sleepless in Utah - not due to Xolair, just miss my husband - he is > out of town visiting a very ill family member) > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 Wow. That is worrisome. If it works for me and if I ever lose my insurance, I would never be able to afford it. On Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 4:30 AM, pyle456 <coachmac@...> wrote: > The " retail " cost of Xolair roughly $500 per vial. So for those of > us on the max dose - 3 vials every two weeks - that would be $36,000 > per year. Two vials every two weeks would be $24,000 per year. And > so on. > > Addy > Group co-owner > > > > > > Does anyone know what the cost of Xolair is (without insurance or > > financial assistance)? My doctor told me it is very expensive and I > > was wondering how expensive. > > > > Kim > > (sleepless in Utah - not due to Xolair, just miss my husband - he is > > out of town visiting a very ill family member) > > > > > -- From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. - Prince Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 3, 2008 Report Share Posted July 3, 2008 That program doesn't work if one has insurance, but the cost under that person's plan remains expensive. I am the example. Wellpoint in California if one doesn't self-inject makes that person ship to a doctor's office where the medication is deemed to be part of the medical plan not pharmacy plan. For me, the former is 20% the cost of the medication (~about $100 per vial) versus the latter $20 per month supply (ie. $400/month versus $20/month. I can't qualify as I have insurance that covers it and I make too much money. > > > > > > Does anyone know what the cost of Xolair is (without insurance or > > > financial assistance)? My doctor told me it is very expensive and I > > > was wondering how expensive. > > > > > > Kim > > > (sleepless in Utah - not due to Xolair, just miss my husband - he is > > > out of town visiting a very ill family member) > > > > > > > > > > > -- > From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. - Prince > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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