Drug Prices

[JR F]

> >

> >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 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%

> >

> >61f0e.jpg

> >

> >

> >Keflex: 250 mg

> >Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88

> >Percent markup: 8,372%

> >

> >61f18.jpg

> >

> >

> >Lipitor: 20 mg

> >Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80

> >Percent markup: 4,696%

> >

> >61f2c.jpg

> >

> >

> >Norvasc: 10 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29

> >Cost of general active ingredients:

>$0.14

> >Percent markup: 134,493%

> >

> >61f36.jpg

> >

> >

> >Paxil: 20 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60

> >Percent markup: 2,898%

> >

> >61f40.jpg

> >

> >

> >Prevacid: 30 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01

> >Percent markup: 34,136%

> >

> >61f4a.jpg

> >

> >

> >Prilosec: 20 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97

> >Cost of general active ingredients $0.52

> >Percent markup: 69,417%

> >

> >61f5e.jpg

> >

> >

> >Prozac: 20 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11

> >Percent markup: 224,973%

> >

> >61f68.jpg

> >

> >

> >Tenormin: 50 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets):

>$104.47

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13

> >Percent markup: 80,362%

> >

> >61f7d.jpg

> >

> >

> >Vasotec: 10 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20

> >Percent markup: 51,185%

> >

> >61f87.jpg

> >

> >

> >Xanax: 1 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024

> >Percent markup: 569,958%

> >

> >61f9b.jpg

> >

> >

> >Zestril: 20 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89

> >Cost of general active ingredients $3.20

> >Percent markup: 2,809

> >

> >61faf.jpg

> >

> >

> >Zithromax: 600 mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78

> >Percent markup: 7,892%

> >

> >61fc3.jpg

> >

> >

> >Zocor: 40

>mg

> >Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63

> >Percent markup: 4,059%

> >

> >61fcd.jpg

> >

> >Zoloft: 50 mg

> >Consumer price: $206.87

> >Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75

> >Percent markup: 11,821%

> >

> >61fd7.jpg

> >

> >

> >Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought

> >everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pa

 

[TrepMan]

Thats interesting info JR, but as a business man I have a few questions - First if the pharmacist can save you $20, and make a profit at the same time why is that bad?



Second, the cost of raw material in a product (drugs in this case) are only 1 small part of the price of a consumer good. This material does not take into account some of the major (and a lot of the minor) costs, such as - R&D to develop the drug, Sales and Marketing for the drug and company, Salaries of employees from top-bottom, distribution costs for shipping, and the list goes on.



Not saying the drug companies don't make good money, but if it was a non-profit business would we have as many folks working and solving these problems that these drugs support?



But either way, its good information to know, just need (as Paul Harvey says) The Rest of the story...

 

[Larry Harp]

An interesting interview I heard on the radio a few months ago was Dr. John Abramson, who has written a book called, Overdosed America : The Broken Promise of American Medicine, concering the high prices of medical care in general. One of the things that struck me that he said was that approximately 45% of drug cost go toward marketing expenses such as advertising and sales commisions. This results in patients telling the doctor what illness they have, either real or imagined, and the doctors prescribing drugs which are not necessary.



Harpo
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060568526/104-2272913-1319101

 

[JR F]

More Drugs.... Bring BAck Qualudes..........YEE HA...Rainbow Tulinals,,Green Abotts..Dam Showing my age again.....By the way a 10 pill script of Zofran 395.00...Jeeze thats expebnsive for us who have no prescription coverage.....

 

[Steven Yates]

I may be bias since I work for a drug company but the reason they cost so much is development of new drugs it cost millions an takes as many as 10 years to get to market and then the company only has a few years to make any money before the patent runs out and every generic company which never spends a dime on developing new drugs can start making them, and dont forget the lawsuits. But I am proud to work for the drug company that makes the cancer drug that Lance Armstrong used. I do agree drugs are very high but if you could see what is involved in the development and producing them as I have for 30 yrs you would have a better understanding.

 

[Larry Harp]

Rayman, according to the book I mentioned R&D accounts for less than 15% of the cost. Does that sound about right? Also, why are prescription drug prices a fraction in Canada and Europe than they are right here in the US?



Harpo

 

[JD Johnson]

Why are drugs so much cheaper in other countres? Americans are just greedy I guess.

One of my scripts for controlling nausa caused from the radiation and chemo cost $785.00 for a few pills. One med cost $100.00 per pill and folks wonder why I'm broke.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Harpo,

Any time the government controls the price of something, there is a shortage...

Look up out how many of the drugs that go to market in the US, actually make it to market in Canada because of the price limits. I have heard somewhere in the 25% range.



Some Americans may go to Canada to get drugs just to save a few bucks, but wonder how many Canadians come to the US to get their drugs because they can't get them in their country.



I just don't understand why people think Canada's healthcare system is so great.The more I read about,the worse off it seems.

Maybe someone from Canada can chime in and set me straight.

 

[JD Johnson]

I know nothing about Canada's health care but drugs are cheaper there.

 

[Steve Rizza]

Cheaper doesn't amount to a hill of beans if you can't get what you need.



Steve

 

[Jim in VA]

I agree with a lot of the folks that are defending the drug companies. I don't work for one, but I am in an organization with a group that does. In addition, I work with chemical and manufacturing companies. A huge part of the cost is R&D. Remember that somebody had to figure out that certain chemicals combined in just the right amounts would have a certain beneficial effect. That can take years and testing easily goes into the millions and millions of dollars. Now, add the Food and Drug Administration approval process, the lawyers and lobbyists needed to get drugs approved (not to mention the chemists, scientists, research docters, etc. who's salaries all have to be paid) and you begin to understand why the mark up is so high. Now, add the costs of potential liability because you KNOW someone is going to sue you over an adverse effect and you begin to see that the profit drug companies are making isn't so big. The lawsuits from Vioxx and similar Cox-2 inhibitors will be in the millions if not billions. Yes, the drug companies make big money - but they also spend big money. I honestly believe that in the end, the consumers still win in that we get drugs to prolong both the duration and quality of life. As for why we pay more, well, compared to the rest of the world, we all have a much higher standard of living. I'm not saying the system is perfect and I know people with lower income fall through the cracks, but I am saying that on balance, we do better with the drug companies than without.



JC

 

[Larry Harp]

Baloney!! The drug companies, Pfizer and Eli Lilly in particular are blacklisting Canadian Pharmical distributors to punish them for selling to American senior citizens. Meanwhile they are raking in profits that make OPEC jealous.



We have been sold a load of BS by the AMA and the medical cartel about how crummy the Canadian and European system is. I've talked to several Canadians and Brit's about their health care and for the most part they are very pleased with it. It's not perfect but neither is ours.



Harpo
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040412-025438-8944r

 

[TOMMY RICH]

What's worse is when someone like your mom is dying of cancer and these companies want to help out by really stickin' it to us!

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

I don't know anything about the prescription drug crap but when Hillary tried to get her health care bill passed there was a LOT of discussion about both Britain's and Canada's health care systems. These two systems weren't only lamblasted by the drug companies and the AMA, but were greatly criticized by even the highly liberal newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post just to name two. They did a lot of research and had polls about how many Canadiens were happy and that system did not fare to well. Most Canadians who could afford it came to this country for medical care. Likewise in Britain, it was found that there was an economic seraration as to thought the system was good or not. The pooer the person the happier they wdere, on the most part. But even middle class people payed to see Doctor's that were not included in the health care system. Even Benny Hill used to make fun of Britains health care system.



Bill

 

[Christopher Laurencio]

I agree with JimC 100%



I work for a Bio-Pharma company and I am proud of the way we help people. Lot's of people with certain cancers are being treated by us. I would have to agree with Rayman that the R&D is so expensive that the turn-around time to make a profit on the drug before Generic is short. Then of course you have the Lawsuits on the drug makers every other day. If you only realized how many hoops and hurdles that are required your head would be spinning.

You also need to take into account all the R&D costs for drugs that never make it to market.



I worked at one time the world's largest Chemical Company and they once owned a very large succesful Pharma Company, the industry is so risky that they sold off that company to stay out of "More" harms way.



I see both sides of the issue, trust me, my family has it's share of cancer and we know the cost's invloved.



For example, the last two mornings on of NYC's morning news shows, I have seen reports on this killer Flu, that could really do damge here and abroad, someone asked why isn't there a drug for this yet????? Who is going to foot the bill for that one?



CJL

 

[Rusty Williams]

Canada's and other countries' Lawyers don't make nearly as much as ours when they file lawsuits. That is why drugs are cheaper there than here. Pretty simple really.

:angry:

 

[Larry Harp]

Once again I refer you to the Dr. Abramson book Overdosed America : The Broken Promise of American Medicine where he points out that only 15% of the cost goes to R&D, while 45% goes to sales and marketing. We all see the ads on TV all the time. What they do is whenever one of the competing drug companies introduce a new drug for let's say bad breath, all the other compinies jump on the bandwagon, re-develop the drug slightly to get around the patent and then hit the air with a big advertising blitz telling the public that they have a problem that they didn't even know they had. Then off we go to the doctor and demand that we have a problem with bad breath and we must have the latest and greatest miracle drug,Nobreathaline, or our lives with be a shambles. This goes on with every drug from colestrol lowering drugs to erectial disfunction drugs. They create a big medical problem where only a small one actually exists. They create multipule drugs that do the same thing when one would suffice. The only reason that the FDA doesn't do anything about it is because of the millions of dollars that the drug and medical industry uses to bribe our Senators, Congressmen, and President. We are getting screwed big time but they have kissed us good enough to make us believe we like it. We are the ONLY modern industralized country without some form of national health insurance for everybody, we spend more per patient than any other country but have a live expectancy that ranks 48th, behind such bastions of superior health care as Puerto Rico, Macau and Greece. Our neighbors to the north in Canada (a country most similar to the U.S. that I can think of) can expect to live nearly 3 years longer than the average American. Yet most Americans are blindly walking around thinking what a great deal we have and what a ***** Hillary is for trying to help.



I guess I get impassioned on this subject because I watched my mother die at a relitativly young age, 67, because of poor health care. She worked like a Turk all her life but never for a big corporation or the government where she could a health care plan but she made too much and had too pride to go to charity hospitals and a stand alone health insurance policy would have been a luxury that we could have never afforded. So she fought the Diabetes and the high blood pressure and the heart problems as best she could and died. Yes, she was on Medicare by the time she died but the damage of years of neglect had already taken it's toll.



Sorry for the rant.

Harpo