We were recently asked by a Freebee Foreign Pharmacy member about the generic drug Acetasol HC, and why it is so expensive today. It used to be much cheaper.

Well, I’m afraid the story tells you all you need to know about how big drug companies operate.

Acetasol HC is a drug commonly used to treat infections of the outer ear and ear canal. Earlier this year, the generic drug maker Actavis raised the price of Acetasol HC by more than 1000 percent. The old price was approximately $20. The new price is more than $230.

How did this happen? Here’s the explanation from CurrentMedicine.tv –

According to a company spokesperson, the reason the price of Acetasol HC was raised more than 1000% was because Actavis is now the sole manufacturer of the drug. Other generic drug manufacturers stopped making it for reasons unrelated to Actavis.

Actavis now has monopoly pricing power and raised the price to match what the drug was selling for as a branded patented drug, even though the drug is off patent and still generic.

Actavis can raise the price of Acetasol HC by more than 1000% and still sell the product due to major inefficiencies in the American healthcare system.

I suppose another generic drug maker, seeing Actavis’ huge profits, could step back into the market. Until then, the company will sell the product at whatever price it chooses, knowing that we have no choice but to accept it.

Via PharmaGossip.

We published a post last month on Avastin vs. Lucentis, two medications used to treat “wet AMD,” a form of age-related macular degeneration.

Philip Rosenfeld, MD, PhD, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Miami, explains in this video how Avastin was developed as a low-cost alternative to Lucentis:

As Dr. Rosenfeld explains, treatment of wet AMD with Avantis costs between $20 and $25 per dose, compared to $2,000 per dose for Lucentis.

In 2008, Genentech sold about $900 million in Lucentis. Fortunately, thanks to the emergence of Avastin as a low-cost alternative, more than 60 percent of retina specialists now prescribe Avastin. As a result, Dr. Rosenfeld concludes that the development of Avastin as an alternative to Lucentis saved consumers more than $1 billion in 2008 alone.

“It’s clear to me that Lucentis is too expensive,” said Dr. Rosenfeld. “The profits to date have been excessive.”

Unfortunately, for many high-priced drugs, no reasonably priced alternative exists.

More at the Healthcare Channel, via PharmaGossip.

It’s sad, but unfortunately a lot of people don’t use generic drugs because they think brand-name drugs must be better, simply because they cost more.

Dr. Travis Stork dispels common myths about generic drugs in this CBS Early Show segment –

Here’s more on generics vs. brand-name drugs.

A new study by the pharmaceutical research firm Decision Resources has determined that European prices for 170 top-selling prescription medications averaged 40 percent less than U.S. prices in 2008, with even greater drug discounts is some countries.

Some of the best bargains, relative to U.S. prices, were on Prozac, Ambien and Tegretol, the study reported.

Neil Grubert, director of pricing research for Decision Resources, said such price discrepancies are not only a concern to U.S. consumers, but also to insurance providers and pharmacy benefit managers:

The current economic downturn will focus increasing attention on the cost of prescription drugs, and many payers will look to compare the prices they pay with prices in other markets. The United States is widely assumed to be by far the most expensive pharmaceutical market, but pharmaceutical companies and payers need to be aware of the enormous price variations by therapeutic area and drug type from one country to another.

Decision Resources’ 2009 Chartbook of International Pharmaceutical Prices examines overall price differentials among the world’s largest pharmaceutical markets, including the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and Japan.

Many Freebee Foreign Pharmacy members have discovered discounts greater than 40 percent — even up to 80 percent — using Freebee’s comparison shopping search engine.

Amy Porter at the Vitesis blog says she did “a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA.” Based on this research, she was able to compare the actual cost of a drug’s active ingredients with the average price charged to U.S. consumers.

Below is a summary of her findings. Prepare to be blown away –

Celebrex 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44..77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809%

Zithromax 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%