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MEDICINE IN THE NEWS


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2-29-2008

I got this in my e-mail this morning. Thought you might like to see it.
I don't know if the prices quoted are true or if the person quoted is valid.
I have read similar articles on the price of drugs and the obscene profit
made by the drug industry.  We have to take in to account that lots of money may have
gone in to the research and development of many medicines.  Companies need to make a reasonable
profit if they are to continue to stay in business. However groups such as Medicare and
prescription plans should be allowed to buy at wholesale or volume prices
which would reduce the cost to senior citizens who are most effected by the cost of medicine.
I would hesitate to buy prescription drugs from other countries  as I would have no guarantee
about the purity, effectiveness or quality of their manufacturing process. We have enough
problems in policing our own drug companies. Even well known companies seem to
have a problem in addressing the profit  to safety features. Companies who knowingly
 falsify their records just to make a buck should be put out of business.
3 strikes and you are out would be my motto.


Extract from the e-mail listed below


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%
 

Prilosec : 2 0 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%
 

Vasotec: 10 mg 
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37 
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20 
Percent markup: 51,185%
 

Zocor: 40 mg 
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27 
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63 
Percent markup: 4,059%
 

Quoted from e-mail

"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. "
 

This letter is signed

Sharon L. Davis 
Budget Analyst 
U.S. Department of Commerce 
 


Send any comments to:
crystal@
crystallady.com

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