Thought this would help some of you!

[ERnurse]

I found this and thought of all my friends on TQ might benifit from this. I would sure compare the price of the meds you are having to buy each month and see if this helps.

Rob



VERIFIED ON WWW.SNOPES.COM

This is worth reading. Be sure to read to the end.
You will be amazed.


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 Dr ugs sold in
America

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 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.

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 a n e-mail address.

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%

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
Percen t 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: 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%

http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp<http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/generic.asp> Snopes.com confirms this.

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


ps you save money.

[schoser]

i stay away from pharmacuticals mainly because it seems that a few years after a drug is released it is found to have worse side effects than the actual problem it was prescribed for. i dont trust the companys or the pharmacys...then again i am lucky enough to be healthy and not need them anyhow.*(knock on wood) it's a huge racket and people are being lied to for profit.

[rusty nail]

Amazing, yet, somehow not surprising. Thanks for the post, Ed

[bigbillinsc]

i am taking 8 meds. blood thinners, anti clotting meds, nerve pills, diabetes meds. not including the insulin 4 times a day... its a shame but i know these meds are help keepin me alive. with out the thinners and platelet meds i the stroke i had would have probably killed me. the drug companies have me by the short and curlys but what can i do.

i have already seen my pharmacist on his new boat.

[MinelabMan]

I know they spend a lot of money on research, but I wonder if after a while the price will come down....probably not .

BigBill, I love that signature.....so true!

[Dixieldy]

Thanks so much for this information. I don't take medicine either and thank G-d I am healthy so far and don't have to. I Do have relatives that take medicine though so I am going to pass this to them.

[gordiesgirl]

Thank you for the info, great to pass on.