What needs to be said is that, more often than not, it is exactly the same pill made by the same manufacturer being sold for widely different prices. Even comparing the US and Canada, the prices are often very different. For example, Jublia (Efinaconazole), a liquid antibiotic to treat toenail fungus, wholesales for about CDN $100.00 (US $75) for an 8 ml bottle. For a 4 ml bottle in the US, made by the same manufacturer, the wholesale price is US $750.00 (CDN $ $1000.00). Ten times the price for half as much.
As for the future of pharmaceuticals, I can suggest an easy fix that will take care of a lot of such problems: Allow local pharmacies to make from scratch their own preparations of prescription drugs.
As a recent example, I remember when Albuterol nebulizer pods went off patent-- A pack of 30 generic pods sold for about $25.00 at the time. Then, a pharmacist started manufacturing pod-filling equipment, empty pods, a sealer, and albuterol powder by the pound. Pharmacists who bought this setup could manufacture pods with the same content for about $3.00 a box. We sold them for $10.00 a box, far undercutting the generic manufacturers.
Unfortunately, it all came to a sudden end when, by a freakish coincidence, all the generic Albuterol pod makers lowered their wholesale prices to about $6.00 a box! Shortly after, additional regulations were put into effect prohibiting local pharmacies from compounding generic products that were otherwise commercially available--Unless they apply for a manufacturer's license and pay for the required extra licenses and inspections. This one-two punch put most of us pod-makers out of business, and prices for generic pods began to inch up after that.
It is still possible to skirt the restrictions for things like this. If a prescriber writes for 0.090% pods (instead of the standard 0.083%) they can still be legally compounded.
With the current environment of rolling shortages of many types of prescriptions, combined with increasing transport costs, I can see that we will need to go back to a model of making our own Rxs from local ingredients. Probably there won't be as many types of meds, but don't be surprised if they are cheaper...
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branchandroot
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Date: 2022-11-06 03:53 am (UTC)What needs to be said is that, more often than not, it is exactly the same pill made by the same manufacturer being sold for widely different prices.
Even comparing the US and Canada, the prices are often very different. For example, Jublia (Efinaconazole), a liquid antibiotic to treat toenail fungus, wholesales for about CDN $100.00 (US $75) for an 8 ml bottle. For a 4 ml bottle in the US, made by the same manufacturer, the wholesale price is US $750.00 (CDN $ $1000.00). Ten times the price for half as much.
As for the future of pharmaceuticals, I can suggest an easy fix that will take care of a lot of such problems: Allow local pharmacies to make from scratch their own preparations of prescription drugs.
As a recent example, I remember when Albuterol nebulizer pods went off patent--
A pack of 30 generic pods sold for about $25.00 at the time. Then, a pharmacist started manufacturing pod-filling equipment, empty pods, a sealer, and albuterol powder by the pound. Pharmacists who bought this setup could manufacture pods with the same content for about $3.00 a box. We sold them for $10.00 a box, far undercutting the generic manufacturers.
Unfortunately, it all came to a sudden end when, by a freakish coincidence, all the generic Albuterol pod makers lowered their wholesale prices to about $6.00 a box! Shortly after, additional regulations were put into effect prohibiting local pharmacies from compounding generic products that were otherwise commercially available--Unless they apply for a manufacturer's license and pay for the required extra licenses and inspections.
This one-two punch put most of us pod-makers out of business, and prices for generic pods began to inch up after that.
It is still possible to skirt the restrictions for things like this. If a prescriber writes for 0.090% pods (instead of the standard 0.083%) they can still be legally compounded.
With the current environment of rolling shortages of many types of prescriptions, combined with increasing transport costs, I can see that we will need to go back to a model of making our own Rxs from local ingredients. Probably there won't be as many types of meds, but don't be surprised if they are cheaper...