PRESCRIPTIONS - A MUST READ! I don’t say this that often…

A MUST READ! I don’t say this that often…

Subject: Costco – PRESCRIPTIONS - Unbelievable!Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 12:13 AMYou can check it out herehttp://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp
(I did and it IS true),Costco - Unbelievable!Make sure you read to the end. You will be amazed... Bless their hearts!!!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.
Celebrex:100 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $130.27Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60Percent markup: 21,712% Claritin:10 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71Percent markup: 30,306% Keflex:250 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88Percent markup: 8,372% Lipitor:20 mgConsumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80Percent markup: 4,696%
Norvasc:10 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $188.29Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14Percent markup: 134,493% Paxil:20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $220.27Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60Percent markup: 2,898% Prevacid:30 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $44.77Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01Percent markup: 34,136% Prilosec: 20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $360.97Cost of general active ingredients $0.52Percent markup: 69,417% Prozac:20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11Percent markup: 224,973%Tenormin:50 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $104.47Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13Percent markup: 80,362% Vasotec:10 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $102.37Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20Percent markup: 51,185% Xanax:1 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024Percent markup: 569,958% Zestril:20 mgConsumer price (100 tablets) $89.89Cost of general active ingredients $3.20Percent markup: 2,809% Zithromax:600 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78Percent markup: 7,892% Zocor:40 mgConsumer price (100 tablets): $350.27Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63Percent markup: 4,059% Zoloft:50 mgConsumer price: $206.87Cost 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 100generic 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 (thrilled actually). 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. Also copy it to your blog and link everyone to your blog via email or other means.Sharon L. Davis Budget AnalystU.S. Department of CommerceRoom 6839Office Ph: 202-482-4458Office Fax: 202-482-5480E-mailAddress:
http://us.mc839.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sdavis@doc.govDON'T JUST THINK . DON'T JUST SPEAK. MOVE!