Generic Drug Prices Skyrocket

I've simply got to stop watching the news.
Every now and then they actually tell us something besides the latest on the polar vortex or some non-event.
This made my ears perk right up......

Generic drug prices are rising, not 5% or 10%....but sometimes more than 1000%....due to lack of competition.
Just what the US consumer needs: in addition to skyrocketing medical "insurance"....now the generic drugs that many use as the cheaper alternative are being prohibitively expensive.....allegedly due to lack of competition.

One wonders what is driving drug companies out of business...and what this crisis will do to those in need of affordable medicines.

Some spectacular jumps in generic drug prices have been exposed in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine. Doxycycline, an antibiotic, went from $.06 a pill to$3.36, an increase of more than 5,000 percent. Captopril, used for hypertension, increased 2,800 percent.

A recent analysis by Pembroke Consulting found nearly 10 percent of generics more than doubled in price in the past year.
~~~~~
"Everybody just assumes generic prices are low but generic prices are low because there's competition," said Kesselheim. "And so once that competition goes away, you no longer have low prices and you have very expensive generic drugs."

www.cbsnews.com...

Congress is set to hold hearings....but it seems too little, too late.....

“We’ve got to get to the bottom of these enormous price increases,” Sanders said. “It is unacceptable that Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Generic drugs were meant to help make medications affordable for the millions of Americans who rely on prescriptions to manage their health needs and now some of them are becoming unaffordable.”

“We launched this investigation because prices for generic drugs are skyrocketing, preventing many Americans from purchasing the critical medications they need,” Cummings said. “I applaud the Department of Justice for also looking into the root causes of these huge increases, so that every American has access to the medications they need.”

www.sanders.senate.gov...

It should be noted that these outrageous increases are not across the board for all generics...and reasons for the new prices vary...which will make it difficult to try to fix.
Some background:
www.newsmaxhealth.com...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I would love to see these pharma companies prosper if nobody had insurance...sounds crazy but nobody would be buying there product...they need insurance to cover this stuff no questions asked...they need every other illegal immigrant to come in and get on the insurance bandwagon...too bad but this is one of the side effects of a free market like it or not..

Another reason to go back to the guillotine.

Viva la america.

a reply to: chrismarco
See as someone who worked for those "pharma companies", well sort of, I worked in the Contract Research Organisation market, because Pharma outsources almost everything after R&D .... they did this by outsourcing everything to bloody China. It cost me and my group our jobs, but it just concentrates a monopoly into a market that can turn on you.

Now generics is not the same as your "big Pharma" but they did much the same (they also come out of India). Quality is fine, but its a captive market. If China wanted they could cripple the US by simply saying "you know what, we are going to charge what this used to cost in the USA".

And yet the generic drugs still remain cheaper than their name brand counterparts. They would have never gone up if the price of designer drugs didn't skyrocket as well. Thanks Obama!

Your only as healthy as you can afford!

Link

Generic drugs are copies of brand-name drugs that have exactly the same dosage, intended use, effects, side effects, route of administration, risks, safety, and strength as the original drug. In other words, their pharmacological effects are exactly the same as those of their brand-name counterparts.

A pair of Nike's doesn't make you run faster of jump higher. They just satisfy your ego and make you feel like you got the most for your money.

Generic drugs are only cheaper because the manufacturers have not had the expenses of developing and marketing a new drug. When a company brings a new drug onto the market, the firm has already spent substantial money on research, development, marketing and promotion of the drug.

More reason to find natural cures...

a reply to: PhoenixFreeman

Many of those drugs came from "natural" sources.

originally posted by: eisegesis
And yet the generic drugs still remain cheaper than their name brand counterparts. They would have never gone up if the price of designer drugs didn't skyrocket as well. Thanks Obama!

Your only as healthy as you can afford!

Your comment just made me think we are actually now living in that film with Justin timberlake in time...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I've definitely noticed it as my insurance was up at the end of July and won't have new coverage until the beginning of the year so I pay for all my scrips out of pocket and one of them has more than doubled the past 6 months. Even with the same pharmacy chain I have my account at, the price can vary by $20-30 depending on what branch or location I fill my scrips at. The one by my Drs. Office being the most expensive currently. Its a huge hassle and some days I just don't have the time to call a half dozen pharmacies and compare prices and have to suck it up. I had a really low copay on my last plan and was spoiled so it really cuts into things right now. ill have a low copay again in January but will likely be limited to where I can fill prescriptions as the new policy is through my wife's work as a hospice nurse and the plan is affiliated with an area hospital that has arrangements set up with specific pharmacies apparently.

a reply to: chrismarco

YOu do realize that pretty much anyone on the ACA bronze plan must pay thousands out of pocket before their insurance kicks in....so thousand and thousands of people will be affected by this.

Also, brand name drug prices have been inching...and more than inching up....a LOT in the last 4 or so years since ACA was announced.
A drug my friend must take was about $37.00 for years....in the last 4 years the prices started rising....often more than once a year, the same number of pills is now over $100.00

originally posted by: Noinden
a reply to: PhoenixFreeman

Many of those drugs came from "natural" sources.

Ye they're tryna patern the canebonoids in ganja now aswell aint they...

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

So basically everytime the government touches anything the market responds by jacking the price up?

a reply to: PhoenixFreeman

I have no idea, I just made the pharmaceuticals. People get all bent out of shape over "natural", and "organic" but honestly the pharmaceuticals have much better controls in them, and a path to trace if something goes wrong. As opposed to naturals, or worse homeopathic snake oil

originally posted by: Noinden
a reply to: PhoenixFreeman

I have no idea, I just made the pharmaceuticals. People get all bent out of shape over "natural", and "organic" but honestly the pharmaceuticals have much better controls in them, and a path to trace if something goes wrong. As opposed to naturals, or worse homeopathic snake oil

The problem with your statement is rarely anything goes wrong with natural, organic, or homeopathic medicine. It's more focused on individual health needs instead of marketing a drug to millions of people and expecting it to work the same for everyone.

There is a risk one takes when experimenting with something that is supposed to work on everybody. You might not expect the risks until you actually try it compared to a safe alternative.

originally posted by: Noinden
a reply to: PhoenixFreeman

I have no idea, I just made the pharmaceuticals. People get all bent out of shape over "natural", and "organic" but honestly the pharmaceuticals have much better controls in them, and a path to trace if something goes wrong. As opposed to naturals, or worse homeopathic snake oil

I read this article once about how scientist made synthetic bee pollen and fed it to the bees, and they all died.

Is that true with everything else? Maybe there really is an energy to the plants that were unaware of?

a reply to: onequestion

I am sure you read it, but is it credible? Was it honest?

I know exactly what went into every drug I made, what levels of other things were in it, and how clean it was. Natural, not so much. Arsenic is natural, botulism and Ebola are natural. Care to take one of them?

One of my prescriptions had been $34 to $36 per month for years.
In summer of 2011 the generic went to $150 per month so I have
had to do with out that medication. The drug company Teva got
the rights to the med when Shine lost the patent. I wrote to Shine
for help & they responded immediately to me & told be Teva now held
the patent. Teva never responded period...they could care less about
people.

This might help some of you my Dr just told me about
GoodRx & you go to the website & put in your zip code
& the medication you need, strength, & number & it brings
up the drug as cheap as you can find at many locations near
you.

Cheers
Ektar

“I applaud the Department of Justice for also looking into the root causes of these huge increases, so that every American has access to the medications they need.”

Unfortunately, this almost guarantees nothing will come of this. The Congress, Senate and the drug companies are all in bed together and it will be a merry go round of "investigations" that lead no where.

I just want to bring up a point here. I Don't take any pharma dope for nothing. I never even filled the scrips for pain pills in 2011 when I was in a horrible car accident that left me with fractures in my facial bones, a collapsed lung, a fractured femur, a torn open left knee and a concussion. As the only time I was in pain after leaving the hospital was if I put a load onto my fractured right femur, which they place a metal rod into during surgery ( I also skipped the pain pills while in hospital for nine days, I am certain that saved me thousands of dollars), I saw absolutely no need to take pain meds seeing as I walked just find on crutches.

What can any healthy American possibly need multiple prescriptions for?? I asked a co-worker once why she had so many bottles in her purse. Said some are for pain, some for allergies, and some for depression/anxiety. I looked at the bottles and realized some of the side effects on one of the allergy meds was mild depression/anxiety and one of the pain meds had a possibility of aggravating certain allergies (how in the hell can they even determine that???) I thusly looked at her and questioned "Have you actually read about any of the meds your taking, or simply just filled the scrips the doctor told you to take"? Unfortunately of course she just trusted the doctor and takes the meds.

I attempted to help her see that some of these drugs she is taking are simply to treat the side affects of other drugs she's taking!! Of course she just laughs and says the doctor is a doctor for a reason, to which I responded "and your nothing but dollar signs in the eyes of that doctor or he never even would have bothered to put you on any med as any of the conditions you claim can simply be treated with a change in thought process.

The AMA has turned physicians in America into snake oil salesman, tricking the population into believing every little complaint is a health or mental issue that they can treat with legalized dope.

I can understand if your over forty and need to take meds for diabetes and a heart condition (Both of which can be countered during your lifetime with healthy living and a natural diet). I don't see any logical explanation as to why a normal citizen without chronic medical issues under 30 needs 3+ prescriptions to treat effects caused by other drugs.

And ADD is the biggest crock of the 20th century if you ask me. They turned what was once normal human behavior, than they broke it down into categories of "crazy" (a relative word I use to describe mental health issues that I believe to be simply made up for the most part, clearly not everyone who claims to allegedly suffer ADD is insane or psychotic and I do not mean to imply such) with each one having its own brand of drug to treat.

There is like one person I know who may be affected by these price increases and he just lost his medical coverage from work. he would take meds for ADD and yet continue smoking pot.... is there any logic?? It is no wonder he has a degree as an educator but is stuck working at the big WM.

With all his fancy college education he refuses to connect the possibility that his inability to focus at times especially at work may be directly related to the fact he is a pothead??? Too many people in denial putting their health in the hands of lab coat crooks instead of doing some simple learning about their bodies and mind on their own to keep their health in check. Is it really any wonder why most mass murderers in modern American history were on these very same brain chemistry altering drugs, or recently stopped taking them?? That's the part they don't go into at full length. The fact that if you suddenly stop or alter the pattern of taking your meds you have a small single digit percent chance of becoming hostile, aggressive, and outright crazy???

Well unfortunately with the millions of citizens on all this legal dope, even just one percent or a million or hell 0.5% half a percent equals 5000 people out of a million that will screw up their pattern and go nuts. As the last couple of decades has shown us, one person can harm dozens or scores as a result of this voluntary drug addiction gone awry.

Are you depressed?? Get the hell out of the house and just meet people face to face at a church, library, bookstore, dog park, or volunteer somewhere and surround yourself with positive people and all that positive energy.

Chronic pain?? Try to see if there is a way to treat the source of that pain instead of taking the easy way out and masking it every 4-8 hours. I have chronic pain in my right knee because of the pins holding the rod in place. It pretty much limits severely my running. I can ride bike a lot more than running, but it still gets painful after some time. Well my solution which I have heard from others first hand with my particular injury and treatment is to get the damn # removed. Of the dozen or so people I have spoken to with my similar injury and treatment, at least ten of them had positive results with alleviating the pain. At least one dude said it didn't have any affect, but I suspect that was because that particular individual was a bovine sedentary cow who barely took his butt out of any sitting position for more than fifteen minutes for any reason, and also happened to be on two other meds I did not ask about.

If you choose to be free and healthy, you can be. Unfortunately for many Americans, it is easier to simply take dope and slave their wages away paying for ever increasing cost of keeping ones self sick and mind clouded.

Sucks that meds are increasing in price though.

a reply to: DYepes

I am going to rebut this with a couple of things.

(a) I suffer from genetic high blood pressure, its my parents "fault" I also suffer from gout. That is also a genetic condition.

(b) Because of (a) I have to take three medications (two for the BP, one to stop crippling gout attacks).

(c) I am generally healthy beyond this.

There are reasons to take medications. Mine are life related. I will stroke out if I come off the beta blocked and calcium channel blocked.

There is nothing wrong with taking pharmaceuticals. Yes I am biased. However these pharmaceuticals and their parent companies are not really any more evil than the other corporations out there. Chances are each of us is on a corporate made PC (or apple), using software from corporations, driving a vehicle that a corporation made.

Computer manufacture and cars are also bad for the environment and have less controls on that than Pharmaceuticals (trust me, I've had to do the paperwork).

Luditism is just not helpful in the modern era