I hold in my hands...

[jbsegal]

...a 60g tube of Dermatop E Emollient Cream which is prednicarbate emollient cream 0.1%

That means that each gram of the goo in the tube contains 1mg of prednicarbate.

The 60 g tube thus contains 60mg of active ingredient.

This tube, were I not to have health insurance, as I may very well not after 4/30, would cost about $100 retail. As it is, it cost $35 with BCBS Rx coverage.

So, that's $100/60mg of active ingredient. That's $166 for 100mg. That's $1666 per GRAM.

If my face isn't better within 15 seconds of applying this stuff, I'm going to be upset.

That it comes in a simple petrolatum base to be applied in a thin film and rubbed in gently, rather than, say, in a pure platinum applicator mask, is very disappointing.

If anyone can document for me any legitimate development cost that makes for a material that costs $755,984.85 per POUND, I'd love to know about it...

Comments

[juuro.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the approvals process. The FDA (or other authority) must receive documentation for studies to the amount of page per milligram of gross contents of the median sales unit. To run the studies, and prepare the paperwork, is going to cost somewhat.

The rest, naturally, is pure profit.

[keith-m043.livejournal.com]

Recently I went up from 40g hits of Lipitor to 80g hits. The 40s cost 97$ and the 80s cost 104$ From this I calculate that its 7 bucks or so for the drugs and 90 bucks for shipping and handling (and advertising). I suspect you have the same thing going up there.

[cme]

Perhaps not legitimate, but the full FDA trial process can take on the order of a decade or more. When I was still planning on going into biotech, I was told that the soonest any new biotech or pharmaceutical company could start making any money at all was 13 years after the development of it's first product. Actually turning a profit comes much later. None of this makes the frustration any better, but it's the closest to an answer I can give you.

[drglam]

I'm still trying to figure out what possible justification there could be to hike the price of a drug that's been on the market for years by 60% in a single year. Thanks a lot, GlaxoSmithKline.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure which medication you're referring to, but I heard one of the drug companies hiked the price of one of their established products to encourage people to switch to their new product.

[drglam]

Flovent.

I might buy the whole "cost of approval" thing if most drug companies didn't have a advertising budget larger than the research budget.

Plus the vast majority of the basic research being done at public expense at research institutions.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I hear you... The eye drops I needed for my eyes last week cost $111.00 for 3 mL (thats milliliters) without insurance. Because it is a higher level drug, it is the most expensive on my prescription plan and I had to pay $50. for it. So I basically poured over $100. into my eyes and down my face last week, (Oh that doesn't include the non-prescription stuff which was $16. for 28 doses.)

The cost of medications is insane.

[coraline]

sucks about having to buy medication, but after having worked in bio for several years, things that cost hundred of thousands (or even millions) of dollars per pound don't phase me anymore...
what the market will bear i guess :/

[amberwood.livejournal.com]

Thats no where near the price of Imitrex. It works out to $2750.00 per gram for it.

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that manufacturing costs figure into the price/mass or price/volume, but R&D and approval costs factor into price-per-dose, regardless of the physical size of the dose.

Still, those numbers (and the numbers for drugs I'm more familiar with) are f'ing scary.

[aliza250.livejournal.com]

Other things you're paying for:

The manufacturing quality control.
The economy of scale, or lack thereof, involved in less common medications - for example, how much does the pharmacy pay to finance stock that rotates only slowly?
R&D costs for this drug, and for a share of all the drugs that failed to make it to market.
Market profit considerations. (This is the main reason why drugs are cheaper in Canada.)