| Raymond 2006-11-19, 4:22 pm |
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Raymond wrote:
> For greed all nature is too little.
> --- Seneca
>
> 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@doc.gov
>
> Letter:
> Today, WalMart announced it is starting a new policy in Tampa where all
> generic drugs will be sold for $4.00 per prescription.
>
> COSTCO! read this...
>
> 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 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: 1 0 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 Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
> Percent markup: 134,493%
>
> 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%
>
> 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: /B 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 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 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. (this is true)
>
> I went there this past Thursday and asked them. 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@doc.gov
My prescription meds went up about 30%
What a lousy deal someone has foisted upon us with the ridiculous
Medicare Prescription Drug bill. When I recently renewed a prescription
for a couple of medications that I've been taking for about 10 years, I
noticed that our friends at the pharmacutical companines have raised
the cost of those meds about 30%. Greed such as that has to be punished
and it is my fervent hope that those responsible burn in you know
where, for eternity.
-- Regards, Don Schaaf
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