Speaking of medications...

[BSPGirl]

Right, I lifted this post from a messageboard. As the person who posted this stated: she's not totally sure about the reliability of the source but I thought it might be interesting anyway (espcially for those whose health insurance doesn't cover much or those with none at all)

Thought a lot of folks here could use some of this info. since a lot are taking medications. I received this from a good source and although, I admit I have not investigated (I emailed the source given but have not yet received a response to verify it yet), it's worth looking into yourselves to perhaps save a few bucks.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START-->"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 State s 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
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. 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.

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)

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

[historyteach]

Interesting. I'm not sure I would trust buying a prescription online from who knows?

Shalom!

[Done_With_It]

Teach,
I used to think I'd never go to Mexico to get my prescriptions either, but when you don't know what else to do, the chance you take of getting the meds is better than being sick in a way you don't have too. If that makes sense.

BSP Girl, Thank you so much!! I don't know if you've heard of all the work
that Montel Williams is doing to help people like me get medication. But
that's what I'm doing right now, but I'm going to look into getting it this way as well.
It's so frustrating to find out how cheap it really is for most of my meds,
yet it would cost me a fortune to go buy them out of pocket.

[historyteach]

Done,
Of course, you are right. I didn't mean to be thoughtless about the financial issues people face getting meds.
Please know that every pharmacutical company has programs for free drugs. You can look online for their requirements. Also, talk to your state representatives if you're in need too. There are often resources that people are unaware of. It's our representatives job to help in this way.

Shalom!

[Done_With_It]

Ahh, you weren't being thoughtless, more or less just using your common sense. lol. I am just learning about how to get free medication, it's amazing how many people don't know you can do that.

And many of the larger more popular hospital aren't allowed 'by law' to give out free samples anymore..

It's good to be careful about buying stuff online, especially when your desperate. People prey on that desperation sometimes.

[rose petals]

whoever
whoever put this thread on--a million and one thank yous!!--i dont have insurance at the present time and i was paying full price for my prescrips--3 over 100 dollars each--i had to ask my grandma to buy them because i coulsnt afford them--well i called costco here and i can get each of those prescrips for about one third to one half the price at walgreens!!!--i can afford it--waht a blessing!!thanks again
Laura

[emmanuel2012]

this certainly is interesting.
chemical synthesis was remarkably cheap from its conception, roughly 1940's (manufacturing-for-profit-wise).

they simply tell scientists the properties they want a substance to have, and they just begin to experiment with the atoms just as if they were Lego blocks. The result is your drug.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. DDT was thought to be a miracluous pesticide as well as an anti-viral treatment on humans.
Turns out it gave millions of people cancer (Directly through "vaccinations" or indirectly through the crops), and destroyed uncountable amounts of plantlife.

who knows what our medications will do to us in 50 years..

synthetic drug corporations often make loads of money.
the rule of thumb is that the more profit they make,
the larger the externality on society.
(externality = costs inuccurred by external entities other than the corporation as a direct result of the sales).

what we do know is how cheap this stuff is to make,
my question is, what are the externalities?

[BSPGirl]

Originally Posted by emmanuel2012

what we do know is how cheap this stuff is to make,
my question is, what are the externalities?

There's prolly some profit spent on research for newer meds and all that. I am not against pharmacy industries making some profit, I mean the ppl who work there and do research should get paid too. But I find it very strange that Costco is able to offer all those meds a lot cheaper...I dunno, it certainly is interesting to investigate.

Laura, I'm glad I could help by copy pasting a thread that caught my eye. The person who posted that on the other messageboard...I'll pass your thanks and all to her. Oh and just call me Marte.

[splendra]

geeze and people complain about the cost of healthy eating...

[rose petals]

Thanks Marte--you made my and my hubbies day for sure--no more worrying how the heck we can continue to get my much needed meds--my grandma couldnt pay for them every month--lol
Laura

[pedagogue]

You need to take into account for research costs ($$$). From concept to production (drug development cylce) it takes an average of 8 (or more) years. The research, trials, testing, etc can cost in the hundreds of million dollars. It seems like huge numbers....but when you factor in the process, it really isn't horrible.

A pharma company has a small window to recoup their investment costs because once it goes generic, the profitability shrinks greatly.

*edit*

I decided to see what google had to say on the subject: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=18892

btw....I am not pro-pharma; I just understand it is a business and to have any sense of competition we need to have multiple firms working on new research and medications. Unfortunately the process costs a TON.

-p

[BSPGirl]

Originally Posted by pedagogue

You need to take into account for research costs ($$$). From concept to production (drug development cylce) it takes an average of 8 (or more) years. The research, trials, testing, etc can cost in the hundreds of million dollars. It seems like huge numbers....but when you factor in the process, it really isn't horrible.

A pharma company has a small window to recoup their investment costs because once it goes generic, the profitability shrinks greatly.

*edit*

I decided to see what google had to say on the subject: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=18892

btw....I am not pro-pharma; I just understand it is a business and to have any sense of competition we need to have multiple firms working on new research and medications. Unfortunately the process costs a TON.

-p

As I said before: yeah I know research costs and all cost a lot. Still doesn't explain why Costco can offer those meds a lot cheaper. Oh and Laura no problem, glad I could help.