Word: lipitor
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...first glance, you might think that the study released last week comparing the cholesterol-lowering drugs Lipitor and Pravachol--funded by Pravachol's maker--produced a surprise slam-dunk for Lipitor. After all, the trial of more than 4,000 patients showed that those who started taking Lipitor instead of Pravachol within a week or so after being hospitalized for a heart attack or unstable angina had a 16% lower rate of getting worse--dying, suffering a subsequent heart attack or stroke, or requiring bypass surgery. But the seemingly obvious conclusion is not necessarily the right one. Here...
...trip last November, Clark did even better than that, buying a six-month supply of medications for a little more than $1,000, a cache that she estimates would have cost about $3,000 in Maine for the same drugs. One of them is Lipitor, the expensive, heavily marketed cholesterol-lowering drug developed by Pfizer. "Lipitor is my biggest savings," Clark says. "For a six-month supply, it's $1,900 in the U.S. I paid $500 [in Canada]." At U.S. prices, she couldn't afford her total drug bill and would have to pick and choose which conditions...
...with minimal FDA oversight and then shipped to the U.S. In 2002 pharmaceutical imports to the U.S. totaled $40.7 billion, a nearly fivefold increase from $8.7 billion in 1995. Seventeen of the 20 largest drug companies worldwide now make drugs in Ireland, largely because of tax incentives. Pfizer's Lipitor for cholesterol, the largest-selling drug in the world, is made in Ireland. So too is Viagra, for erectile dysfunction. AstraZeneca's Nexium, for heartburn and acid reflux, comes from Sweden, France and other countries. TAP Pharmaceutical Products' Prevacid, another brand prescribed for heartburn and acid reflux, comes from Japan...
...look at the prices of newer prescription drugs that offer similar treatments to existing ones (e.g. Viagra and Levitra, Lipitor and Zocor, Paxil and Zoloft) you notice that the prices are very close to each other. That suggests collusion among the drug manufacturers. If it was an effective free market, such as in computers, cameras and televisions, the prices of newer products would be lower. Why hasn't media raised this question? Congress or the FTC should look into the pricing policies of the big pharmas. Gopal Las Vegas...
...what about everyday drugs like Lipitor or Celebrex, which can be had on the Net for as much as 60% off? The FDA, to my surprise, is taking a hard line on those too, warning about the risk of counterfeits and contamination. Reached for comment on the New Hampshire plan, William Hubbard, associate commissioner of the FDA, said that all imported drugs could be considered "unsafe...