My first words in this my new blog

Welcome to my blog.

Enjoy my jewelry!

www.BijiBijoux.Etsy.com

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Costco

I don't have anything to blog and then I got this email from a friend and said to myself why not post it here. It's a long post so forgive me.

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 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%

Error! Filename not specified.

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%

.jpg" SRC="aoladp://MA24192176-0011/ATT0001011.jpg">

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%







Zocor:40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

IZE="9126" ID="16" SRC="aoladp://MA23455901-0016/ATT0001516.jpg">
Zoloft:50 mgConsumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1..75
Percent markup: 11,821%





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.

22 comments:

  1. OMG, Thank you so much for this blog post. You have no idea how much you just helped me out!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had seen this same report. I was in Costco this morning and there was a pretty long line in the pharmacy dept. I guess we can see why.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i had totally no idea that their markup is so high, even if you consider the costs they incur in developing these in the first place...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Though I don't live in America - this is an eyeopener!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow....that is some mark up and to think there are people going without these drugs due to the cost...wish we had a Costco in our area! Thanks for the information.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow I had no idea! My mom is currently battling cancer and has had alot of prescriptions some of which aren't covered by her medical insurance. I will definitely pass this along and hopefully it's the same in Canada. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am not surprised at all! So sad how the drug companies and insurance companies are all about money making, not the consumer....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great post! I use Sam's club for all my prescriptions, they are a membership store like costco. Consistently, they are WAY cheaper than walgreens or any other pharmacy.

    thanks for this

    ReplyDelete
  9. great post. who would have thought their mark ups were so high

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have heard about this before, it´s incredible how they grow up the bussiness with money of people that need those.
    But I´m not sure about buying drugs at internet, yet, I have heard too a lot about false products.... at least in Spain.

    ReplyDelete
  11. holy cow, I'll be going to costco!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I'm in Manitoba Canada - we can't even get into a Costco without a membership - so there is no way we can buy drugs there.
    Interesting to see how much they are over charging us.

    ReplyDelete
  13. wow interesting article, I wonder if this is the same in Canada. I will do some investigating.

    ReplyDelete
  14. wow! that is crazy! I think this might finally be the reason I give in and get a costco membership even though the closest one to me is a bit out of the way.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Really good information, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow - I'm in the wrong business. Unfortunately I live in an area where the nearest Costco is 3 and a half hours away.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Good to know you don't need a membership there!

    ReplyDelete
  18. uniquecozytreasures - Isn't this just sick! Alot of the markup goes to the pharmasists too.

    ReplyDelete
  19. DANG!!!! I wish I knew about this even an hour ago. I just spend $128 for 10 days worth of one of my meds. Isn't it wonderful what american health care has become? And as a healthcare worker, I know a lot of the junk that goes on!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Why the heck didn't I see this post before now? The markup on these medications is a disgrace!!!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.