The Real Cost of Drugs

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
Send all comments or additions to:    Frankp@chiro.org

Thanks to Rush Limbaugh Online
for permission to reproduce this information!

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WHAT DRUGS REALLY COST

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. The chart below speaks for itself.

BRAND NAME OF DRUG	CONSUMER PRICE: 100 TABS	COST OF GENERAL ACTIVE INGREDIENTS	PERCENT MARKUP
Celebrex	100 mg $130.27	$0.60	21,712%
Claritin	10 mg $215.17	$0.71	30,306%
Keflex	250 mg $157.39	$1.88	8,372%
Lipitor	20 mg $272.37	$5.80	4,696%
Norvasc	10 mg $188.29	$0.14	134,493%
Paxil	20 mg $220.27	$7.60	2,898%
Prevacid	30 mg $44.77	$1.01	34,136%
Prilosec	20 mg $360.97	$0.52	69,417%
Prozac	20 mg $247.47	$0.11	224,973%
Tenormin	50 mg $104.47	$0.13	80,362%
Vasotec	10 mg $102.37	$0.20	51,185%
Xanax	1mg $136.79	$0.024	569,958%
Zestril	20 mg $89.89	$3.20	2,809%
Zithromax	600mg $1,482.19	$18.78	7,892%
Zocor	40mg $350.27	$8.63	4,059%
Zoloft	50mg $206.87	$1.75	11,821%

Drug Profits
As you would imagine, between the huge markup charged to consumers and the generous corporate welfare enjoyed by the drug companies, things are going quite well. Here are a few metrics for assessing their financial status.

DRUG MAKER	LEADING PRODUCTS	ANNUAL PROFIT 12/02	MARKET CAP (10/27/03)	SYMBOL
Pfizer	Celebrex, Lipitor, Zoloft	9.1 Billion	245 Billion	PFE
Merck	Zocor	7.1 Billion	100 Billion	MRK
AstraZeneca	Prilosec	84 Million	1 Billion	AZN
Glaxo	Paxil	132 Million	662 Million	GSK

Thanks to Anne Boone for sharing the following information with us!

It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why there appears to be 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 perhaps, 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 gotten 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 pasting it into your own e-mail, and sending it to everyone you know with an e-mail address. Let's support change at the grassroots!

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Since 2-05-2004