Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications?

Sharon L. Davis, Budget Analyst-U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC office spoke recently against rising drug prices and why you should shop at COSTCO for your medications. 

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. Ms Davis did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As she has 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 her independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, she 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 
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% 

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.

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. 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. 

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. Just try it, by law they HAVE to let you in.

I can speak from my own experience: HIV MEDS are much cheaper at Costco.

Kaletra goes for over $800 at CVS and the same 120 tablets of the 200-50mg sell for $670 at Costco.

Viread 300mg 30 tablets goes for over $600 at CVS and goes for $446 at Costco.

Epzicon 30- tablets goes for over $1000 at CVS and $721 at Costco.

Fluconazole (Diflucan) 100 mg the generic sells at Cosctco for $16.36 (from the $300 cost of Diflucan)

For Hytrin's generic, Terazosin, 30 pills at CVS is over $30 and at Costco is $7.85

The generic form of Halcion's generic, Triazolam, 0.25mg 30 tabs goes for $40 at CVS and for $8.25 at Costco

You do the math!!!!

For more information contact:
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