[Dialogue] Cost of drugs at CostCo
Ed Reames
popgoesweasel at gmail.com
Thu Feb 8 00:15:20 EST 2007
Here in Costa Rica, Lipitor 40mg runs about $2/pill (and if you cut one
in half the cost is1 $ per 20mg dosage) and there is a 2 for one offer
from Pfizer Labs. You take your old box and copy of your reciept to
their offices in San Jose and they give you a voucher for 1/2 the amount
that you brought in to them. Oh and you do not need a prescription to
buy Lipitor and a lot of other drugs. Amazing what the drug companies
get a away with in the Evil Empire!
Ed Reames
La Rivera de Belen, Heredia, Costa Rica
Darrell Walker wrote:
> Lest we go running off to Costco to buy our prescription drugs, a
> couple of points. My wife and I take Lipitor. I just checked the
> price of 100 tablets (20 mg) on the Costco webpage and the price is
> $360, not the $272 listed here. Second, we order our Lipitor from
> Europe (Switzerland) through Canada Pharmacy and it costs $175 for 90
> similar sized tablets. $3.60 each at Costco, $1.94 at Canada
> Pharmacy. Of course, one runs the risk of having the package
> confiscated by our Department of Homeland Security, but I'm willing to
> run the risk.
> Costco may well be the best place in the US to buy prescription
> drugs. I paid $45 for a beta blocker at a Target pharmacy and then
> found I could get the same thing at Costco for $13. But on the higher
> priced stuff, it is worth checking out the pharmacies north of the
> border. We have found Canada Pharmacy to be dependable. You do need
> to plan for a three-week delivery, however.
> Darrell Walker -- Lincoln, California where we are doing the
> rain dance. We need water.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* George Holcombe <mailto:geowanda at earthlink.net>
> *To:* Dialogue Dialogue <mailto:Dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 07, 2007 12:52 PM
> *Subject:* [Dialogue] Cost of drugs at CostCo
>
> Thought this might benefit some of us.
>
>>>
>>>
>>> I thought you might like to have this information.
>>>
>>> Costco
>>>
>>>
>>> - Read to End!
>>>
>>> Wal*Mart 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 at doc.gov <mailto:sdavis at doc.gov>
>
> George Holcombe
> 14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
> Austin, TX 78728
> Home: 512/252-2756
> Mobile 512/294-5952
> geowanda at earthlink.net <mailto:geowanda at earthlink.net>
>
>
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