Subject: COSTCO

    COSTCO! read this...

   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 State s
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.

   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%

   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

   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. On Monday night,

   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.

   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. (this
is

   true)

   I went there this past Thursday and asked them. 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  at doc.gov

===
    "Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, Dance like nobody's watching..."
            -- Richard Leigh