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E-drug: WSJ on Price Markups by Pharmacies in US on some generic drugs

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This is a table from a December 31, 1998 story in the Wall Street

Journal by ELYSE TANOUYE, "Price Markups on Generics Can Top

Brand-Name Drugs"

Here it is in text form.

The basic idea is this. You have

(1) the price the generic manufacturer charges to the pharmacy,

(2) the price the pharmacy charges the consumer for the generic
product,

and

(3) the price the pharmacy charges the consumer for the brand name

product.

The price of the generic to the consumer is almost as high as the

brand price. Even though pharmacies are getting the generic for a very
low price, they are not passing on the savings.

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                      No Bargain

Pharmacies add steep markups to the price of generic rugs:

Generic drug/Brand name

   Treatment No. of pills

             Generic Generic Brand- name

  Dosage manuf's retail retail

Acyclovir/Zovirax

   Antiviral drug

   400 mg tablet 44 $7.22 $61.64 $98.12

Cimetidine/Tagamet

   Ulcer drug

   400 mg tablet 57 2.85 37.09 90.63

Captopril/Capoten

   High blood pressure

  25 mg tablet 79 1.46 24.49 66.36

Glipizide/Glucotrol

   Diabetes

   10 mg tablet 76 3.76 25.80 52.44

Diazepam/Valium

   Antianxiety drug

   5 mg tablet 46 0.44 6.84 33.12

Haloperidol/Haldol

   Antipsychotic

  5 mg tablet 52 0.62 18.08 82.16

Diltiazem/Cardizem

   Angina (chest pain)

   60 mg tablet 88 3.08 31.61 66.00

Alprazolam/Xanax

   Antianxiety drug

   0.5 mg tablet 56 0.78 15.56 51.52

Atenolol/Tenormin

   High blood pressure

   50 mg tablet 43 0.62 14.68 43.00

Note: prices and pill quantities are based on the

average retail prescriptions from Scott-Levin

Source: Mylan document; Scott-Levin; WSJ research

James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology

P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036, v202.387.8030 f202.234.5176

http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org

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