Medication cost rant.....

[old medic]

During my extended hospital stay, one of the meds they used for muscle spasms (not a narcotic) I was getting 3 times a day. When moved to the local hospital they changed to a different med.... no big deal. Well after my wife's chest surgery, they prescribed the same med and filled it before she was discharged. Well she has run out and called the Dr office.... No problem they will call in a refill to our Pharmacy. We stop by and get told..... They don't stock it because of cost and its not covered by insurance. How much you ask...
Over $1000 !!!!!!... So I look it up.... and you can get the same exact med, Name and strength, from Chewy.com for your dog.... Are you ready

$8.80 for 60 pills.... Plus shipping... Needs a vets prescription.... but its available OTC in Canada....

 

[sengsational]

Have you looked on GoodRx?

 

[Surewhitey]

During my extended hospital stay, one of the meds they used for muscle spasms (not a narcotic) I was getting 3 times a day. When moved to the local hospital they changed to a different med.... no big deal. Well after my wife's chest surgery, they prescribed the same med and filled it before she was discharged. Well she has run out and called the Dr office.... No problem they will call in a refill to our Pharmacy. We stop by and get told..... They don't stock it because of cost and its not covered by insurance. How much you ask...
Over $1000 !!!!!!... So I look it up.... and you can get the same exact med, Name and strength, from Chewy.com for your dog.... Are you ready

$8.80 for 60 pills.... Plus shipping... Needs a vets prescription.... but its available OTC in Canada....

Sounds like a road trip... Similar to a buddy I'm visiting in Cozumel. His arthritis meds used to be $150/mo until it went to generics and now it's only $10/mo. I just heard a podcast saying the US is paying for the world's share of drug development, even in developed nations.

I wouldn't feel one bit guilty about going to Canada...

 

[MichaelB]

During my extended hospital stay, one of the meds they used for muscle spasms (not a narcotic) I was getting 3 times a day. When moved to the local hospital they changed to a different med.... no big deal. Well after my wife's chest surgery, they prescribed the same med and filled it before she was discharged. Well she has run out and called the Dr office.... No problem they will call in a refill to our Pharmacy. We stop by and get told..... They don't stock it because of cost and its not covered by insurance. How much you ask...
Over $1000 !!!!!!... So I look it up.... and you can get the same exact med, Name and strength, from Chewy.com for your dog.... Are you ready

$8.80 for 60 pills.... Plus shipping... Needs a vets prescription.... but its available OTC in Canada....

You have every right to rant about this. I hope you’re able to find a low cost source for this drug.

 

[Fermion]

I am going to tell the biotech that I have lost about $60,000 in so far that all they have to do is test on dogs.

Spending billions testing drugs on people is wasting my money.

Can you also send a letter to the FDA so they will allow this?

 

[CRLLS]

It is a shame that Big Pharma writes our laws instead of people with common sense working for the people.

 

[Al18]

Call your doctor and tell them you can't afford the prescription and ask for a generic equivalent.

 

[sengsational]

The US is a soft target with respect to prescription pricing, especially for drugs still on patent. Other countries only let them sell the drug there if they agree to a lower price, and so they have to raise the price in the US.



I presume the OP's example is still on patent.

 

[SoReady]

What medication is this?

 

[Fermion]

The solution is a much longer patent life for drugs with strict price caps.

It is far easier to budget spending $2 billion to bring a drug to market if you can sell it for $50 over 25 years rather than having to raise the price to $150 or more to sell it before the patent runs out and generics come in at $5

Even then there is a lot of risk that a better drug will come out during that 25 year period.

Maybe the solution is to not have such strict requirements and time for testing of drugs

 

[target2019]

What is the drug and what generics exist?

 

[pacergal]

Sometimes the manufacturer has coupons or assistance you can apply for. The pharmacy may have information or your PCP, or even contacting the website.

 

[OldShooter]

It is a shame that Big Pharma writes our laws instead of people with common sense working for the people.

Au contraire, there is a lot of common sense in licking the hand that feeds you.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/17501-if-ye-love-wealth-better-than-liberty-the-tranquility-of

 

[Sunset]

What is the name of this expensive drug ?

I remember when I was around 9 years old, Mom would give us cod liver oil each morning. One day I climbed up on the kitchen counter and reached the top shelf to look at this bottle of awful tasting stuff.
"For Veterinary Use Only" was printed on the label

 

[old medic]

I presume the OP's example is still on patent.

No its been around for years and there are generics. But we need to double check on the exact prescription. It appears that the price given is way off from what is a common med. The Dr called it in so there may be some confusion.

 

[Sunset]

The US is a soft target with respect to prescription pricing, especially for drugs still on patent. Other countries only let them sell the drug there if they agree to a lower price, and so they have to raise the price in the US.

....

I don't think it works this way. A drug company develops a drug and sets a USA price to make a profit.
The ability to sell in other markets is just a bonus in income for them. If they were to lose money selling in other countries, they wouldn't sell there.

Lucky for drug companies, the US has no limit on prices.

example: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/14/martin-shkreli-says-pharma-ban-keeps-him-from-even-a-drugstore-job/71922616007/

"Shkreli in 2015 acquired Daraprim from the only supplier of the drug and immediately raised the price from $17.50 to $750 per tablet, earning him the unofficial title of the "most hated man in America."

 

[Koolau]

It is a shame that Big Pharma writes our laws instead of people with common sense working for the people.

How much of their stock do you own? A LOT I hope. It seems they can write their own laws, so they must make a lot of money.

 

[JoeWras]

OP won't cough up the name.

I'll just say Baclofen is used for this purpose and is pennies a pill.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Not too many of these posts address the real issue. Why the Doggie & Canadian versions are so much cheaper.

US Pharma gauges the sick and infirm for excessive profit. They achieve it by paying lobby groups rather than using that money to buy down the overall drug costs. To quote the Mandalorian "This is the way".

 

[Zathras]

To be fair, at least in the case of insulin, there is a big difference between the quality of veterinary and human insulin quality.

That said, big pharma does a lot of writing their own laws and regulations.
And the pricing is not solved by longer patents. Insulin was relatively cheap until the turn of the century. Then it ramped up to the point where people were arranging groups to take buses to Canada to get less expensive insulin.

Medicare being unable to deal for lower prices (until recently) was a huge “full speed ahead” for big pharma.

 

[brett]

Go for it.

Just as long as you don't start barking or lifting you leg as you pass by every tree.

This is shameful.

Good on you for doing the research.

 

[old medic]

OP won't cough up the name.

Robaxin or Methocarbamol....

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Here are the current Prices with GoodRX. Certainly No $1,000!

 

[old medic]

To be fair, at least in the case of insulin, there is a big difference between the quality of veterinary and human insulin quality

Long story
Several years ago we had an issue with a so called Epinephrine shortage and a HUGE price hike. Remember the EppiPen price hikes? At work we carried 10/ 1MG individual doses in prefilled syringes for treating a cardiac arrest. A box of 25 1mg vials was around $27 and jumped to nearly $300.
We changed to using a single 30 MG vial because it was cheaper by $50. One of our medics said that they had gotten some Eppi for her horse at Tractor Supply... A 50 MG vial for only $32 ... We went and checked it out..
Same manufacturer, and SAME LOT NUMBER...

 

[punkinhead]

Quite a few years ago I was having symptoms and in an attempt to figure it out my doctor prescribed a $500/month pill. I thought the price was ridiculous so I researched alternatives and found out that it used for be a $25/month pill until a competitor came up with a non-patent violating equivalent. When it hit the market they both went up to $500/month. When I hear people talk about "the free market" in the health care and pharmacy arena I have to laugh.