Wyeth Greed Has Struck A Nerve

I guess I'm not alone in noticing the incredible price increase of the drug Premarin. It has been duly noted by a major Canadian television station and the medical reporter Avis Favro on her blog at MedNews Express.

Premarin, has become the third most prescribed drug in the world (just behind Tylenol), bringing its single maker over one billion dollars per year. There is no generic so Wyeth has a monopoly.

A price increase of around ONE THOUSAND PERCENT seems a bit greedy don't you think? I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so but I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg. As most prescriptions are for around 90 days there are still a lot of women who haven't a clue yet. Or maybe those with drug plans won't even notice the price increase. I notice these things since I'm not lucky enough to have a drug plan so when the pharmacist asked for 123 bucks for what I normally paid under thirty for I was freaked out. Watch out when all those bitchy menopausal, hormone deprived women who won't be able to afford this drug any more start protesting. Could be fun....

Now I know there has been controversy around the production of the drug because it uses the urine of pregnant mares. I have done some reading on the subject, the good, the bad and the ugly but I choose (hopefully) to believe the good. Yes, the mares are kept on special farms and yes they are kept pregnant for the benefit of our drugs but is it better or worse than force feeding geese for their livers for fois gras? I think not...

Will we win this battle...probably not. The drug company might cave in and reduce their price somewhat and we will all go away happy and they will still make a shit load of money. If this was a drug to treat men's prostate instead of women I suspect there would be more outrage...

I better go knit a little to calm down...

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals - Price Gouging?

I have been taking Premarin for twenty odd years now for symptoms of menopause. It's a drug that has been in and out of favour at various times during it's long history. I have carefully with my physicians help assessed the risks and benefits. This drug has been around for fifty plus years, it's not new and not a lot of research money needs to be spent.

I refilled my prescription yesterday and was absolutely shocked at my bill. Instead of the 28 bucks I was expecting to pay for 90 pills, my bill was !24.00. Taking away the pharmacy fee this pill has increased in price from 0.14 cents per tablet to a whopping $1.24 a pill.

I called the company this morning and when I asked to speak to someone regarding drug pricing I was asked if it was about Premarin. Seems they have received so many calls they have set up a special line. Did they really think no one would notice or no one would call?

The very nice lady I spoke with gave me the following prepared statement which I'm sure she has memorized by now. There has been an "increase in cost in making the product" and "they had to increase the price in order to keep it on the market since there is now a higher demand".

I'm not surprised that there is a higher demand since there are a lot of women hitting menopause and since the drug is now back on the okay list. I guess Wyeth is taking this opportunity to make a lot of money.

Since I'm not satisfied with the answer I will continue digging, more to come...