Do you purchase Medications monthly? If so you have to read this, I was shocked!
Make sure you read to the end.
You will be amazed.
Let's hear it for Costco! (This is just mind-boggling!) The cheapest place to buy drugs and why?
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 revealed 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 really make, we obtained the
actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most
popular drugs sold in America.
Celebrex: 100 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $130.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60Percent markup: 21,712%
Claritin: 10 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71Percent markup: 30,306%
Keflex: 250 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88Percent markup: 8,372%
Lipitor: 20 mg Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80Percent markup: 4,696%
Norvasc: 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14Percent markup: 134,493% Error! Filename not specified.
Paxil:20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60Percent markup: 2,898%
Prevacid: 30 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77 Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01Percent markup: 34,136%
Prilosec: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97 Cost of general active ingredients $0.52Percent markup: 69,417%
Prozac: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11Percent markup: 224,973%
Tenormin:50 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13Percent markup: 80,362% .jpg" SRC="aoladp://MA24192176-0011/ATT0001011.jpg"> Vasotec: 10 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20Percent markup: 51,185%
Xanax: 1 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024Percent markup: 569,958%
Zestril: 20 mg Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89 Cost of general active ingredients $3.20Percent markup: 2,809%
Zithromax: 600 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19 Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78Percent markup: 7,892%
Zocor: 40 mg Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27 Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63Percent markup: 4,059%
Zoloft: 50 mgConsumer price: $206.87 Cost of general active ingredients: $1..75Percent 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 prices
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. 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.
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@docgov DON'T THINK . DON'T SPEAK . MOVE!
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