surviveCANCER Foundation

As long as I am on a bent toward the pharmaceutical industry, here is another shot at them. Recently this was posted in one of the groups I participate in. Now understand that I am not anti-business. All businesses have one common goal: to make money. If they do not make money, the shareholders do not get returns on their investments, employees to not get paid and none of these things are good. Yet somewhere along the line, there appears to be a slight stretching of the common good for the sake of profit.

In a normal manufacturing arena where I spent many years of my adult work life, a typical markup from manufacturer to retail is in the 400%– 600% range. That much is needed to pay all the bills and give distributors and retailers a profit as well. If they do not make money on it, they will not sell the product. Now I fight for every last penny I spend by shopping sales, closeouts, etc… One of my favorite places to shop is EBAY, the 24 hour giant garage sale. Yet I do realize that everyone has to make a profit or there is no motive for things to be made and new products to be introduced to the marketplace. Profits are not evil. If there were no profits to be had, you would not have had a place to work. Every single person is the beneficiary of some type of manufacturing profit.

The following was taken from a LIFE EXTENSION FOUNDATION newsletter. Again, this was presented by someone else, but is certainly worth noting.

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.

NOTICE THE PERCENTAGE OF MARKUP. THIS IS ASTOUNDING! PROFIT IS ONE THING, BUT THIS GOES BEYOND THE PALE. THE PERCENTAGES ARE NOT, REPEAT NOT TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS!
NOTE: Xanax is king at 569,958%!

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: 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
Cons! umer pri ce (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%