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Purdue raising OxyContin price?I've been following with some interest the various threads on here about certain OC generics no longer being available, generic pharm co.'s settling with Purdue to no longer manufacture/distribute the product, etc. Right now the only generic that any of the area (Philadelphia) big chain drug stores dispense are made by Teva, and I think I'm in agreement with most here that it's a terribly inferior product than the generic made by Watson or even Endo. That said, the last couple months I've asked my doc to specify DAW (Dispense as Written) on my monthly #60 OC 20mg script that I take for chronic lower back/leg pain. Now - I know Oxy's are notorious for being ridiculously expensive for what it is (even the generics weren't cheap), but it seems that the price has actually gone UP within the last 6 months or so since the whole no more generic/patent infringement issue has been going on. Due to an outdated insurance plan, I always have to pay cash up front and then send them a claim. I reverted to the brand at the end of March, and the total for 60 20mg OC's was $209.99. April, same pharmacy - $222.99. Got my script filled today - total was over $230! I'm wondering if Purdue is purposely raising the price since they know more & more people will be requesting the brand since the Teva is so universally despised? Or maybe they just need the extra money because of the $700 million in damages they were just forced to pay for misrepresenting OC's addiction potential recently? Heh. Any thoughts/ideas welcome. Thanks! -QH
( categories: Discussion of Prescription and OTC Meds )
 Yep!
Its the American way of supply and demand. These tyrants(Purdue) know that the greenbacks are coming their way and they are going to cash in. That really does stink! I mean I am living paycheck to paycheck as it is, luckily I have ins to pay for those lousy Tevas. I just cant understand why if they are allowed to continue, then why cant watson or endo? I really do feel sorry for the uninsured but if there are not going to be any generics I wish it would hurry up because I am about to ask for a different med due to ho bad teva is.--MUDEBONE-- Depends on your PM contract
Talk with your Pain managment clinic or prescribing doctor about the need to shop pharmacies for best prices. Each pharmacy can vary by a crazy amount of money each month. I was talking to a friend from another forum on the phone the other day and he was saying that it can be as much as 200 or more bucks a month for a script of OC 80s from the same pharmacy one month to the next so he shops pharmacies before filling each month. If money is really killing you and you have not already tried morephine, it is a much more affordable medicine and it does work for many. You could talk to your doctor about swapping you MS Contin / MSIR or Roxy for Breakthrough If you can stick to morphine and be managed as far as pain goes, you will save money on scripts. But also if the OC is what you have to have, talk to your doc about pharmacy shopping, they do not like it but sometimes it has to be done when your wallet is being hammered.
Good Luck, Brian Open Discussion
This is why I put open discussion in almost all of my messages. If you go in to your doctors office and talk with them openly and honestly about valid concerns like prices of medications and offer more than one option like pharmacy shopping along with your willingness to change medications to ease their concern that you may be trying to pull a fast one, it should help. Those contracts have a very real intended purpose, many times when I go into the office I am disgusted to see some of the folks being treated in there but the doc is not fooled and when they mess up he has the contract to get rid of them and he pee tests and checks up on pharms and what not regularly to weed out the problems. I feel that I am safe going to this practice and it will not be shut down because they are certianly not a pill mill. They have no qualms tossing out patients that are self treating because the doc will listen and work on your treatment plan regulary and is not afraid to treat pain. However he is not going to go from "80mg OC 2x a day" to 5 times a day in 2 visits like many other offices. He is conservitive enough to know addiction vs. psudoaddiction and treat appropriately. Thankfully I have developed an excellent relationship with my doctor and I am totally comfortable talking to him about my plan of care where as many in the office are not. They are terrified when I talk to them while waiting and they think I am an alien because I am simply honest. The doc knows what is going on and if you are messing up it is just a matter of time before you are sent up the river so you may as well try to be an active participant that has everything to lose and nothing but good to gain if you do the right thing. Give it a shot. Talk to them about shopping pharms or swapping meds. Neither may work but shoot paying out the nose is not an option for me so I would end up suffering if it came down to it and no other med worked for me.
Good Luck, Brian Another Purdue/Teva rant
Maybe it's just me, but I've had, for the most part, really negative experiences with shopping around pharmacies for prices on controlled drugs. Either the pharmacist or pharmacy tech is too busy to look it up, or as soon as I mention the word 'OxyContin' I get major attitude. One even told me that "we're not allowed to give out that information on narcotic drugs over the phone." ??? That's why I prefer to stay with my smaller/non-chain pharmacy, it's a bit out of my way but they know me, like me, and are always pleasant. Maybe their prices are a bit higher than somewhere else, but it's worth it to be treated with friendliness and respect as opposed to being perceived as a drug addict. Try going to a Rite Aid sometime and being treated respectfully - as soon as I hand my script over, the tech runs over to the pharmacist in charge and starts whispering. May sound paranoid but that's exactly what's happened to me- on more than one occasion. Anyway, the point I was making in the original post is that it's not the pharmacies I have a problem with per se, it's the fact that the one generic brand (Teva) that Purdue allows to continue to sell - at least through the end of this year - is known to be the worst of them all. (And coincidentally the hardest to abuse, or so I hear.) I honestly think Purdue knows all this and has made a concerted effort to only license generic OC to Teva because they know more & more people will therefore request the brand name - and that's exactly what's happening. So who's to stop them from raising the price even more? I guess they figure they got their monopoly back and can basically do what they want. Sorry to rant but the sheer nerve of Purdue to do what they do - and get away with it - really puzzles me. The $700 million in damages the had to pay out is laughable - that's like their net profit on 6 months of OC sales!
Dont even get me going
Dont even get me started on the whole price and monopoly issue. What a crock of BS that is that they have been able to get the patent back on OC. HOW IN THE WORLD does this happen?????? WHY does this happen???? Oh well, you are right about pharms not liking the shopping thing but I don't care when it comes to the difference between me having a 40 dollars for groceries or the same amount of meds. I'm in the process of doing
I'm in the process of doing the same thing with Norco's- I found a difference of almost $100 between pharms! Youre right about them raising the prices just because they can- I mean, what are you going to do- take it or leave it really. I know that's exactlly what the company is thinkning! I'm a social worker, not a medical professional. All comments and thoughts are simply my opinion and experience. |
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