Posted as early as 2003 (allegedly by a US government employee)
 
     Story verified by Snopes
     
Make sure you  read to the end. You will be  amazed.                     

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  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
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: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.
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.


- End forwarded message -

Blessings

Dan