I checked this out on Snopes.com. My mom sent this info to me via e-mail and needless to say, I was quite irked.
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.
A significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. This is an independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make.
A few examples:
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%
Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%
Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%
Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958% (wa wa wee wa!)
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. 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.
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 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.
6 comments:
Good for Costco, indeed. The government should regulate the mark up on drugs. Especially since there are people that have to decide between either taking their medicine, or having food or heat that month. That is unacceptable! Hopefully more pharmacies will offer $4 generics. I'm not sure how that works or what drugs are covered, but it sounds good in theory.
Good post.
It is seriously a HUGE list of almost any kind of drug that you can think of that you can get for $4. I get ALL of mine at Target now; even the ones for my dog. I find it rather irksome that Rite Aid will only give you the generics for $4 if you tell them that you know they'll price match, otherwise they will charge you more. How about we make it so more people can afford their medications?
WOW. GREAT post. Very good to know. I shall be passing this information on.
Do you get a better deal at Target than at Costco?
I get everything at Target for $4. I JUST found out about this Costco thang.
Wow, this is good to know! I have members of my family who spend SO much money on prescription drugs and it is really good to know that there are business out there that recognize how ridiculous the cost is to individuals to get their medicine. This is really fantastic!
Very cool.
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