SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

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 Wilson, 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. Wilson 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.

[BuffaloJack]

The major component of the price paid for medication is the insurance premium which can sometimes be ten, twenty or even a hundred times the cost of the drug itself. Thank the Liberals and their litigant happy lawyers for this sad state of affairs.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

[blue9t3]

I didnt realize I was being hosed "that" bad! What kills me is a two dollar pill is sold for twenty cents in Mexico, when asked why we are told " they cant afford two dollars". I just have this gut-sick feeling that I'm paying out the nose for that twenty cent pill.
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MOPAR-BUYER

[BuffaloJack]

About 15 years back, my wife and I took our youngest daughter to the pediatrician for a checkup and shots. At the time I noticed that on the bill the doctor listed the immunization as about $3 and the immunization insurance premium, which surprised me, at nearly $80. I asked about the separate items listing and he told me that so many people had complained about the increasing costs this was the only way he could avoid the regular bi%ch session by his patients. He told me then, that this was his way of informing the public of run-away insurance costs. That was 15 years ago. It could only have gotten worse today.
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Swift Boats - Qui Nhon (12/69-4/70), Cat Lo (4/70-5/70), Vung Tau (5/70-12/71)

[Anker-Klanker]

The whole health-care "industry" is corrupt in my opinion.

Been to the doctor lately and have him/her even ask you if you'd prefer the latest ("ask your doctor") medication at top $$, or last year's miracle at substantially less cost? Before he wrote your prescription?

I used to work for a cutting-edge electronics manufacuring company. Quite a few years ago, someone got the idea that the health-care industry would be a brand new market for electronics that we should explore. It didn't take long though for us to figure out that the "buy-in" and under-the-table payoffs to get into that closed, good old boys club, was not only going to be more expensive than anyone realized, but that it was positively immoral.

But frankly, we've got no one to blame but ourselves. It's our insistence on nothing but "the best" that's made us so vulnerable to these scams (and that's precisely what they are).

[Nutso]

Comparing the cost of raw materials to the cost of a finished product is not an indicator at all of what something costs. The raw metal and plastics in a car cost maybe a couple hundred bucks or so, the two most expensive parts of that car are the labor and employee benefits.
Yes the raw materials of a drug may be real cheap, but who developed that drug? What process does that raw material go through in processing?? How much does it cost to pass government testing, sales, distribution and liability insurance in this country. Yes drugs are cheaper in other countries, they don't have all the expenses of development and testing. When was the last time you heard of Mexico developing a life saving drug?? (Marijuana and cocaine do not count)
I do believe that drug companies may well be out of line in what they are earning, and our liability laws are out of whack, but we need to be real as to what a drug actually costs.