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Frank Bernheisel: The View From Here |
![]() ![]() ![]() Frank Bernheisel |
Posted 04.22.13 Just Outside Washington FRANK
BERNHEISEL
Big Pharma, Big Profits
Atorvastatin, a statin, was developed and marketed by Pfizer under the trade name Lipitor. It is prescribed for lowering blood cholesterol.
Since approved by the FDA in 1996, Pfizer has sold some $125 Billion worth. In 2011, Pfizer's patent expired and other drug companies were able to make and market generic versions of the drug.
I was taking Lipitor and my doctor thought the change in the cholesterol numbers was good. This is the new medicine -- we do a test and look at the numbers, prescribe a pill and retest. Eureka, the numbers change.
On May 16, 2012 I bought 90 Lipitor pills each of which had 80 mg of the drug. The cost to the pharmacy was $582.38 and the cost to me was $138.57. That constituted a total of 7.2 grams of the medicine at $80.89 per gram to the pharmacy. My cost because of insurance was only $19.25 per gram. Bargain.
On April 16, 2013 I bought 90 Lipitor pills each of which had 40 mg of the drug. The cost to the pharmacy was $665.80 and the cost to me was $237.89. That constituted a total of 3.6 grams of the medicine at $184.94 per gram to the pharmacy. (My cost was higher this year, $66.08 per gram, because we had not met the deductible for our insurance.)
After listening to the right wing talking points about the best health care in the world and how competition and consumer choice will solve everything, a few thoughts come to mind:
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