I received this email from a neighbor who has been suffering with cancer for a while. I use Zestril and don't pay at Meijer what this says but have not checked the Costco price.
COSTCO! read this whole article...especially the end!
Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read
all the way past the list of the drugs. 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 rev ealed 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 re ally 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 gen eral 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 s ome 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 pra ctice, 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).
I went there this past T hursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to
please help me by copying this letter, and passing it onto your own e-mail
list, 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: mailto:sdavis@doc.gov
