Financial Disclosure: I'm Broke!

I get tired of thinking about drugs all day and night. Time to bring some diversity here. Just wanted to let everyone know that when I talk positive or negatively about a medication it is not because I have any financial interest in it for the following reasons:

1. Not enough people look at this site to make a dent in any sales. (Maybe someday.)
2. My job performance is not based upon sales in $$$'s.
3. I don't have any significant amount of money to invest in a pharmaceutical company.
4. I don't think any of the big Pharma companies stocks are good investment right now. (Come back for more discussion.)
5. If anything I talk more negatively about big Pharma companies than positive, but it depends on the topic of course.

Bottom line: I'm all about full disclosure. At least from me you don't have to worry about kickbacks from Pfizer.

Anti-Whatever, anxiety, depression...It can be cheap!

The brain is probably the most complex ever known. Neurons, neurotransmitters, synapses, neural networks, and grand mal seizures. Surely the two most common problems regarding this organ, anxiety and depression, must need really fancy, sophisticated medication(aka expensive), right? No...for better or worse little has changes pharmacologically in this arena for a few decades. But two goods things come from this...clinical experience and cheap meds!!



I'm starting a new categorization system. Let's see how it goes:



(I use drugstore.com for prices, except when I know they are on a $4-5 list at Wal-mart, Kmart, or Target. Prices based upon a month supply)



Rip-Off Meds:



Lexapro: $86



A legal way to make more money from the same drug, from your friends at Forest Labs.



Luvox(fluvoxamine): $63+

Might have had a chance, but then Columbine happened.



Expensive, but maybe worth it:
These two work slightly different so maybe have a higher value.


Cymbalta: $120



I just love the look of the capsules!! A pharmacologic fashion icon.








Effexor XR: $126-400+
Effexor-regular(generic): $60-100+

The regular Effexor might be cheaper, but patients hate taking things more than once a day, and three times...forget about it!



CHEAP MEDS:


Prozac(fluoxetine): $4

I heard that it free if you drink tap water, too!

Celexa(citalopram): $4

Once a great product for Forest Labs, then forgotten about when sexy-looking, high-margin Lexapro came knocking.

Zoloft(sertraline): $16

Whatever happened to those commercials with the happy and sad eggs?

Trazodone: $4

A huge off-label market for no-sleepiness(insomnia), seems like its destiny.




That should wrap it up, feel free to comment on the new categorization. Or just comment about anything since nobody has left any comments yet anyways.

ZZ out.

The Cholesterol-Lowering Statins (Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol)

This category is really easy to save on and many people are on these meds. Let's look at the top 200 drugs (by total sales) of 2006:

#1: Lipitor ($8.7 Billion)
#7: Zocor ($3.2 Billion)

There is a very good chance your doctor will prescribe one of these in your lifetime. And guess what...you'll probably stay on it for the rest of your life. The evidence and the guidelines clearly show why.

Ok so you got your prescription for Lipitor, you're happy, you're doctor is happy, because they think they making you healthy. But you get to the pharmacy wait for 30 minutes and the pharmacist says "Sorry...your insurance company doesn't cover this medication."

What?!! Does the insurance company not care about me? Don't they want me to have the medicine the doctor wanted me to be on? Turns out no...they don't. But there is a method to the madness. The guidelines do NOT specify between statins, and the cost is huge. I've complied the list below based upon drugstore.com's prices for a 1 month prescription of said statin...

Lipitor 10mg: $85.99
Zocor 20mg
(Simvastatin):$27.99 (even less, about $5 at K-mart)
Lovastatin 20mg: $22.99 ($4 at some Targets)
Crestor 5 mg: $108.99
Pravastatin 20 mg: $17.99

Your cost per year on these meds can range from $48-$1308. A 96% difference in price!!!!

Here the price difference is not from the quality of the medication, but basically how long it has been on the market. From my point of view the longer something is on the market, the more confidence I have in it, not less. The health care community has more experience with it.

The bottom line is....

If your doctor writes you a prescription for a statin look at what you're paying, you could save over $1000/year for a medication that works just as well and has been out longer...

Sources:
drugstore.com
American Heart Association
ATP III guidelines
K-mart
Target website

This is a great site from the American Heart Association.

Let Me Introduce Myself...

My name is Zach Z. I am in the last stage of a PharmD (Doctor of Pharmacy) degree at the University of Minnesota. I started this blog and my website, savemoneyonprescriptions.googlepages.com, to help people save money on their prescriptions drugs. As we all know, the costs of prescriptions in our country have been rising every year and consumers are paying a higher percentage of the total cost. And here lies the problem...

We rely so much (and rightly so I would argue) on drugs to keep us alive and healthy, yet few people know how much they costs and what options are available to them. When a doctor writes your prescription they are usually not aware of the price. They maybe picking a drug based on their personal experience, what drug rep. saw them last, or what name they can remember easiest. Hopefully your insurance will cover it...but if its expensive they probably won't, or charge you a higher co-pay. But it's what the doctor ordered, right? There are many cheaper options for the majority of prescriptions, but how can you tell? That's what I want this blog and website to be about. So...let's get started....