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Washington Budget Analyst Exposes Drug Price Markup; up to 569,958% markup
Nov 9, 2009
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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 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%
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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%
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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 pricesgouging 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 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@doc.gov
 
DON'T THINK . DON'T SPEAK . MOVE!
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Posted: Nov 9, 2009 7:41am
Statin Drug Use Increases Pneumonia Risk By 61%
Jul 15, 2009
Statins Given to Prevent Pneumonia in Elderly Actually Increase Pneumonia Risk by 61 Percent
(NaturalNews) Published reports say that between 11 million to 30 million Americans are taking the supposedly wonder drugs called statins. These cholesterol lowering medications brought in over $34 billion in sales last year and have raked in a quarter...
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Posted: Jul 15, 2009 9:00am
Earth Song, by Michael Jackson (Tribute)
Jun 27, 2009
Name: Michael Jackson
Type: Memorial (for the deceased)
To Honor: Individual(s)
Location: , United States
Please note associated news story.. Thanks...
http://www.care2.com/news/member/979852695/1179110
Earth Song, by Michael Jackson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8muMo0fw_M
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xetes_michael-jackson-earth-song_animals

"I remember writing Earth Song when I was in Austria...and I was feeling so much pain and so much suffering of the plight of the Planet Earth... I think  nature is trying so hard to compensate for man's mismanagement of the  Earth... This is my chance to pretty much let people hear the voice of the planet. And this is Earth Song."

Michael Jackson

------------------------------------------------------

Dear NaturalNews readers,

 

The mainstream press dare not mention it, but both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett were ultimately killed by Big Pharma's drugs. Read why in today's feature article:
http://www.naturalnews.com/026511_cancer_chemotherapy_doctors.html
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Posted: Jun 27, 2009 6:02pm
Why the Medical Industry Is Lashing Out at Oprah Winfrey
Jun 17, 2009
Why the Medical Industry Is Lashing Out at Oprah Winfrey 

Why the Medical Industry Is Lashing Out at Oprah Winfrey
By Deepak Chopra, AlterNet
Having squandered its public credibility, the medical establishment's attacks on Oprah's alternative medicine crusade look like pure cynicism. Read more »

 

------------------------------------------------------

We interrupt the mad rush to be medicated by Big Pharma with the Good News that Nature Provides everything we need to prevent and reverse physical, mental and emotional illness. Celebrate this knowledge and learn from nature how to truly heal.

Share what you know to help people heal themselves using free, or low cost natural modalities, available to all humans suffering around the world.  

 

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/natureprovides
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Posted: Jun 17, 2009 5:16pm
Top 10 Ways to Know You're Living in a Medical Police State
May 28, 2009
Please note news story;
Top 10 Ways to Know You're Living in a Medical Police State  Eric - 3 hours ago - naturalnews.com 
(NaturalNews) Are Americans really living in a medical police state? The recent news with Daniel Hauser and his family's fight over chemotherapy seems to indicate so. Here are ten ways to recognize whether you're living under the oppressive MD tyranny.
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Posted: May 28, 2009 2:55pm
Mexico Legalizes All Soft And Hard Drugs; Heroin, Speed, Marijuana, Etc.
May 5, 2009
Please note news story;
Mexico Legalizes All Soft And Hard Drugs; Heroin, Speed, Marijuana, Etc. 
Offbeat  (tags: unusual, weird, odd, interesting, offbeat, drugs, laws, legalize, marijuana, heroin, speed,meth, cocaine ) 
 Eric - 15 seconds ago - care2.com 
In an out of the box attempt at solving the war on crime, Mexico just passed some laws that make it legal to use any kind of drug, for personal use only. So why is the major media so quiet about it? Why is just covering the swine flu and nothing else?
Further discussion and analysis;
http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=3626&pst=969534
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Posted: May 5, 2009 8:11pm
21 Major Clinical Trials based on FAKE, FABRICATED DATA
Mar 13, 2009

Dear NaturalNews readers,

 

Twenty-one clinical drug trials frequently cited by physicians and pill pushers -- and published in prominent medical journals -- were based on fabricated data. And it's not just that the data were falsified, it's also that the doctor conducting the fraudulent research had taken money from one of the drug companies benefitting from his fraudulent research.

 

Read the full details on this astounding revelation about the fraud and corruption in conventional medicine here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/025833.html


Source; Natural News Email Newsletter
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Posted: Mar 13, 2009 6:23pm

 
 
 
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