Thursday, March 15, 2007

Walgreens marks up generics by 975%


On the Freakonomics blog, Stephen Dubner (co-author of the wonderful Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything) digs into the pricing on generic drugs and finds that the main-street pharmacies mark up their offerings by 975 percent!
Even once you factor in the cost of buying a membership at Costco and Sam’s Club, the price differences were astounding. Here are the prices he found at Houston stores for 90 tablets of generic Prozac:

Walgreens: $117

Eckerd: $115

CVS: $115

Sam’s Club: $15

Costco: $12

Those aren’t typos. Walgreens charges $117 for a bottle of the same pills for which Costco charges $12.

Link

See also:
Freakonomics quiz: Who is Celebrity X?
Freaknomics on Jane Siberry's pay-what-you-want music store
Monkeys taught to use money



posted by Cory Doctorow at 05:26:34 AM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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