drugs
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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