Re: FW: COSTCO AND PRESCRIPTIONS

[Guest guest]

I agree with relevance of half of the point of the message, the part discussing the difference between costs of medications at different places. However, the part relevant to the costs of the active ingredients, I agree with what is said on snopes (I find it interesting that the article refers to snopes for verification since snopes doesn't support that part of the article).

I'll talk about part one first, the wide variations in costs. As so many of the medications are sold based on agreements with insurers the total amount being paid is often overlooked but those paying their own way and those in the donut hole do find out. I just checked several of my meds with Costco versus the price AARP has negotiated with Walgreens. I have adjusted to equal quantities:

Gabapentin-Costco $41.29 vs. Walgreens $52.65

Budeprion XL-Costco $46.26 vs. Walgreens $86.82

Levothyroxine-Costco $5.90 (but many are $4.00) vs. Walgreens $14.49.

Nexium-Costco $330.76 vs. Walgreens $322.76

Ambien CR-Costco $142.68 vs. Walgreens $136.54

It appears that Costco is significantly less on many generics but not on the brand items I checked. Now, what I find more disturbing is comparing certain items to costs in other countries. For instance, I don't find huge differences on my generics. But Nexium is the one I find huge differences on. As noted in the US it is $320-330 for a 30 day supply of 60 pills. It can be bought by brand name from Canada pharmacies using the product sold in Canada for $150. It can be purchased through Canadian pharmacies and others and the India product bought for $100. It can be bought in generic form from India manufacturers for $50-60.

It definitely does make sense to compare drug prices though for any who are having to pay for their own. I know when I hit the black hole I'll look at Costco for my budeprion and gabapentin.

Now as to the part on costs of ingredients, Snopes says the chart regarding the active ingredients is

"of dubious accuracy and of little relevance (other than an inflammatory one), as far more goes into the retail pricing of drugs than the raw cost of their active ingredients. Pharmaceutical companies expend money on the research and development costs of manufacturing, marketing, and shipping them; as well pharmacies must sell drugs for more that their wholesale prices in order to cover the overhead costs of store operations."

We certainly don't want to stop research and development and that money must be recovered. Now, there are pharmaceuticals making outrageous profits on certain medications such as Astra Zenica on Nexium. On the other hand, other pharmaceuticals are encountering profit issues at the moment.

The problem isn't the cost of ingredients versus selling prices. It is the manipulation of product changes to create and push a new version with no generic matches and then taking advantage to make profits beyond reason. Their are pharmaceuticals known world wide as abusers and subject to many suits. Also, there is the disparity on certain products between countries.

One last note. The state of Minnesota has a nice little tool on their website for Minnesota residents to find the cheapest price in their area. It also includes Minnesota approved Canadian pharmacies. I wish every state had such tools.

>> > > > > > > > Thought this would be good reading and might even get your blood pressure up> when you see the costs to make some of these drugs.> G.> > > > > > > COSTCO! Read This...> > 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: 1 0 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 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: /B 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)> > 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> US Department of Commerce> Room 6839> Office Phone: > Office Fax: > E-mail Address:sdavis@... > > > > > > This can be verified by clicking on the following link:> > http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp> > > ____________________________________________________________ > Click to find the latest solutions to enhance your small business. > > > > -- > "Only two things in life are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe" - Albert Einstein>