Fw: This is very interesting...Prescription Mark-ups

May 26, 2008

I just received this from a friend. Thought you might all be interested in

this.

Margot

Subject: This is very interesting...

Thought everyone would find the following VERY informative! Thanks to

Costco for being a responsible consumer minded company.

Drug Company Rip Off

Snopes says this is true. Here's the link.Http://www.snopes

com/medical/drugs/generic.asp

This is worth reading. Be sure to read to the end.

You will be amazed.

Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read

all the way past the list of the drugs The woman that signed below is a

Budget Analyst out of federal Washington,DC offices.

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 data 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%

Norvasc: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

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 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. 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. (this is true)

This is true in Canada too.

I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to

please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own

e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.

Sharon L.

Budget Analyst

U.S. Department of Commerce

Room 6839

Office Ph: 202-482-4458

Office Fax: 202-482-5480

E-mail Address:sdavis@...

May 26, 2008

I shouldn't be, but I'm speechless.

redbudln@...

From: redbudln@...

Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 15:16:32 -0500

Subject: [ ] Fw: This is very interesting...Prescription Mark-ups

I just received this from a friend. Thought you might all be

interested in