Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredi ent in prescription medications. Some people think it must cost a lot, s ince many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshor e chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found
in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of
Life Extensi on, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United
States contain act ive ingredients made in other countries. In our
independent investigation o f how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price o f active ingredients used in some
of the most popular drugs sold in Ameri ca
The data below speaks for itself.
Celebrex: 100 mg &nbs p;
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 activ e 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 sho uld know about this. Please read the following and pass it on.
It pays to s hop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they
can afford to pu t a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night,
Steve Wilson, an investiga tive reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit,
did a story on generic drug pri ce gouging by pharmacies. He found
in his investigation, that some of thes e 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, th e 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" $2 0. 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
n ot 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
on line price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the
online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one exa mple 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
stor e, 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. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov