Generic Drug Prices Skyrocket

I have a dog with diabetes and needs insulin shots and eye drops twice daily. While we have pet insurance, it does not cover diabetes so we have to pay out of pocket. At first we got the medications at our local CVS pharmacy and it would cost about $110.00 for the insulin and $47.00 for the drops. Then we discovered that Walmart carries what we need at a much lower cost. A vial of insulin (the same brand offered at CVS) is only $25.00 and the drops only $4.00/bottle.

In fact, Walmart carries many, many prescription drugs for only $4.00 and the price has not gone up in the year and a half that we've been purchasing them there.

If you find your generic prescriptions are costing more than they did before, see if they are on the Walmart $4.00 list.

I was shocked the first time I had to pay for my son's prescription with our new insurance, which offers no coverage or discounts for meds. So this might help someone out there ...

Drugs.com offers a free prescription drug discount card. It knocked the price of his prescription down from about $60 to about $7. You can look up your prescription at local pharmacies at the card website and see what your savings would be. You can print it now, and ask for plastic card to be mailed to you later.

drugs.com prescription card

One huge problem is many prescriptions are scheduled drugs for pain
ADHD, ADD & etc. Those drugs never seem to get a break in price.
They are always expensive even as generics. I have looked into the
discount programs & due to being a scheduled drug there is no help.

Cheers
Ektar

originally posted by: Ektar
One huge problem is many prescriptions are scheduled drugs for pain
ADHD, ADD & etc. Those drugs never seem to get a break in price.
They are always expensive even as generics. I have looked into the
discount programs & due to being a scheduled drug there is no help.

Cheers
Ektar

i got a prescription filled today....pain meds...it was $87 for a months worth...no insurance

that really does not seem all that bad to me

a reply to: Ektar

It depends on the drug. Vicodin and Norco are cheap. Percocet and Roxicodone can be expensive, although Percocet 5/325 isn't too bad. Adderall is cheap but XR is expensive. Methadone is dirt cheap and I'm pretty sure Dilaudid is cheap as well. And that's just CII's. When you look at the more common CIII-Vs like Xanax or Tramadol you'll find they're pretty cheap as well.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: snarky412

He gets some help from the drug company itself....I just tried to look for Humana Extra Care....not finding it so I wonder if ACA killed it??

Not sure about the ACA affecting it, but he's still on it

The monthly fees last year were around $16/month but this year it jumped to $24, still cheap...but wondering what, if any, increase for the first of the next year [not complaining, mind you]

I'll see if I can find that list of other companies offering extra help, although I'm not sure if the ACA will affect new members or not

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Feelgoods will always be cheaper than the drugs needed to save your life.
Big pharma will see to it they we pay through the nose for them, even if they cost less to manufacture than the feelgoods.

originally posted by: charlyv
a reply to: Xcalibur254

Feelgoods will always be cheaper than the drugs needed to save your life.
Big pharma will see to it they we pay through the nose for them, even if they cost less to manufacture than the feelgoods.

thats not always true either...
to be fair there are a lot of meds that are $3 and $5 at a lot of places.
my wife takes levothyroxan and it is $15 for 3 months worth....

her ssri is only like $18....

a reply to: AgentShillington

And what about those who cannot afford that trip to Canada or Mexico?
Just who is going to hold the BigPharma lobbyists' toes to the fire?

I'd like to hear your plan about telling the drug companies they're charging too much...and how the US consumers will stop them.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I am going to point out that these generics are nothing to do with "big pharma" but some of the ancillary players. Big Pharma produce the drugs before they come off patent.

a reply to: rukia

Adderal is not the only drug different than the generic.
Dilantin is also in that class.....to the point they cannot be used interchangeably.
There is some ingredient than causes the phenytoin to act differently.....those controlled by Dilantin cannot usually take phenytoin....and vice versa.

It's the same with many OTC drugs as well....the generic often just isn't quite the same.
I know that is true for an eye gel I must use....

If medicines and pills are being out-sourced to China, we're better off not taking them, eh?

Just go down to the junkyard and suck on some toxic metals and inhale some burning tires.

/rant

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Once something becomes available for being made a generic (ie its off patent for the company which owns it) the drug may be able to be made but if there is a process that the origional company has a patent on as well, that may not be avaliable, and you substitute chemicals, or processes (you can patent the drug, you can patent the process, and don't even get me started on "trade secrets"). Also you may "fiddle with it" and have your own "version" which you feel is better. Lastly raw materials change. Most come from China and they jerk us around all the time with quality, so you must substitute.

a reply to: Noinden

Yeah, that is my understanding as well, that the process or some other ingredient alters the way the drug is synthesized.

Like in the case of the eye gel I use, the brand name is just smoother, easier to use and lasts longer.

As far as generics not being part of BigPharma....maybe, maybe not.
BigPharma is all about profit.
They buy up companies that make vitamins and herbal supplements.....why not buy up those generic companies...or be a part of the merging of generics companies....a practice that is driving up the prices of generics.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I've worked in the contract research world, Big Pharma is pretty much trying to keep things ON patent so the little fish can not get it. So no its ansilarly players who go after off patent stuff.

a reply to: Noinden

Yeah, I have heard about some nasty things BigPharma is doing to keep drugs from going generic....like changing the drug to once a day....it was on the news...cannot remember which drug.

But....even if the players are different...if generic companies are falling by the wayside and/or merging to get rid of competition....they are in the same boat with the drugsters in BigPharma.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Nasty? Nah its business, they usually improve the product to keep it on patent. If the american public wants to be part of a capitalist mecca (and it seems to) then it is the price one pays. This includes destroying the US fine chemicals and contract research/manufacturing industry so that they can source services and materials from China. I mean what could go wrong with that?

Its all "just business" which is the "american dream" no?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

That is one of their big tricks. When the patent expires they come out with a "CR" version and then spam doctors with "information" of why the CR version is by far and away superior to the previous version. Whether or not doctors get kickbacks, I cannot say for sure. But I know they get a lot of perks if they prescribe the "right" meds - like tons of free samples that they can hand out to their less fortunate patients.

The whole damned game is rigged - and the government is in on every aspect of it.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I'm blanking on which ones right now but there are a number of generic companies owned by the big guys. We've got a number of generic drugs that are identical to the brand name right down to the imprint. The only difference is the bottle.
That said it shouldn't matter if something is generic or brand. In order for a drug to be approved as a generic its bioequivalence must be within 5% (I think. Going off memory right now.) of the brand name. Now, there could be differences in the inactive ingredients but this shouldn't matter unless you're allergic to one of them. The only other instance where you might notice a difference is in a drug like Synthroid. In this case the amount of the active ingredient is so small that any variation could throw your T-levels off.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

It depends on the drug.....here's the dilantin specifics

"The issue with phenytoin is it is the single most difficult anticonvulsant drug to use because it has very different metabolism than most medicines," Barkley tells WebMD. "Small changes in dose result in wild swings in metabolism."

The small differences between Dilantin and generic phenytoin can have big clinical effects.

www.webmd.com...

So, not just an allergic reaction...in this case it is a metabolizing effect.

ETA
And, why am I not surprised the big guys have their mitts in the generic pie