US Drugmaker Raises Price of Vitamins By More Than 800%

[DamianTV]

https://science.slashdot.org/story/1...-more-than-800

David Crow, reporting for the Financial Times:

A US drugmaker is charging almost $300 for a bottle of prescription vitamins that can be bought online for less than $5, in the latest attempt at price gouging in the world's largest healthcare market. Avondale Pharmaceuticals raised the price of Niacor, a prescription-only version of niacin, by 809 per cent last month, taking a bottle of 100 tablets from $32.46 to $295 (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source), according to figures seen by the Financial Times. Although niacin, a type of vitamin B3, is available in over-the-counter forms for less than $5 per 100 tablets, some doctors still prefer to use the version approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat high cholesterol. Avondale, a secretive Alabama-based company, put the price of Niacor up shortly after acquiring the rights to the medicine in a so-called "buy-and-raise" deal -- a strategy made famous by Martin Shkreli, the disgraced biotech entrepreneur.

[donnay]

"...a secretive Alabama-based company..."

That made me shake my head and go, hmmmmm.

[DamianTV]

"...a secretive Alabama-based company..."

That made me shake my head and go, hmmmmm.

Yup. Same guy that jacked up the price of the Epi-Pen.

[Schifference]

In a free market, who would purchase their niacin?

[Brian4Liberty]

In a free market, who would purchase their niacin?

Vitamins are a free market.

This speaks more to the power and (presumed) authority of the medical profession to dictate a brand via prescription, and the lunacy of the health insurance industry to cover it. No doubt the people who take the prescribed version do not actually pay the full price.

[specsaregood]

"...a secretive Alabama-based company..."
That made me shake my head and go, hmmmmm.

Really? Because when I read something like that I automatically assume it was written by a leftist that hates anything capitalism.
One of the source articles even says "The company was formed in August and has no online presence, but state records show that it is based in Alabama."

And yet a quick search shows that is false: http://avondalepharm.com/


They even have a contactus page! ewww, secretive.

[donnay]

Vitamins are a free market.

This speaks more to the power and (presumed) authority of the medical profession to dictate a brand via prescription, and the lunacy of the health insurance industry to cover it. No doubt the people who take the prescribed version do not actually pay the full price.

Yes and Big pHARMa knows this. that is why they have entered the supplement industry and have their guard dogs (FDA) going after the little guys in the free market <---I use that term very lightly, because it is the appearance of a 'free market', which it is not.

They are already gunning for Hyland's homeopathic remedies.

Here is how socialized medicine works:

I have a friend who lives in England and she was always getting sick. She went to her doctor and he prescribed Vitamin D--on the face of it, one would think that was great to help her out. The problem is it is was D2, not D3. Now she thinks Vitamin D will not help her immune system because she was prescribed the wrong type of D.

[donnay]

Really? Because when I read something like that I automatically assume it was written by a leftist that hates anything capitalism.
One of the source articles even says "The company was formed in August and has no online presence, but state records show that it is based in Alabama."

And yet a quick search shows that is false: http://avondalepharm.com/


They even have a contactus page! ewww, secretive.

Yeah got to love all those pharmaceutical companies jumping in on the supplement side of free market eh? Kind of like them jumping in the on cannabis free market to corner and control cannabis .

[Zippyjuan]

Yeah got to love all those pharmaceutical companies jumping in on the supplement side of free market eh? Kind of like them jumping in the on cannabis free market to corner and control cannabis .

Most of the supplements you buy in the market are produced by large corporations- just like big pharma. Some even are big pharma. It is a $300 billion a year industry.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/06...companies.html

Some people who buy supplements to avoid Big Pharma drug companies may find themselves doing business with Big Herba, instead.

Some of the same companies that mass-produce drugs in huge chemical labs also churn out vitamin and herbal pills sold in bottles with rainbows, sunrises and flowers on their labels.


Dozens of other supplement makers reap more than $100 million in annual sales. One of the largest — NBTY Inc., on New York's Long Island — sold $2 billion last year in the United States alone. Its brands include Nature's Bounty, Vitamin World, Puritan's Pride and Sundown.

"They used to be mom and pop operations but now they're major companies," said Bruce Silverglade, chief lawyer for the consumer group, Center for Science in the Public Interest.

[sparebulb]

Most of the supplements you buy in the market are produced by large corporations- just like big pharma. Some even are big pharma. It is a $300 billion a year industry.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/06...companies.html

On the tenth day of Christmas,

guess what I gave to Zippy......

[donnay]

Most of the supplements you buy in the market are produced by large corporations- just like big pharma. Some even are big pharma. It is a $300 billion a year industry.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/06...companies.html

I do not buy my herbs, vitamins or minerals from a pharmaceutical company. I buy from companies who have no problem with transparency to the customers.

Example:


NutraBio was founded in 1996 with the goal of providing our customers with the most effective supplements. In 2001, we revolutionized the supplement industry by introducing four quality commitments:

Never using proprietary blends & guaranteeing full label disclosure
Banning all fillers, excipients & additives from our products
Guaranteeing full therapeutic dosages of every active ingredient
Manufacturing our own products so we could control every aspect of quality.

[angelatc]

Vitamins are a free market.

This speaks more to the power and (presumed) authority of the medical profession to dictate a brand via prescription, and the lunacy of the health insurance industry to cover it. No doubt the people who take the prescribed version do not actually pay the full price.

But sadly there's quite a bit of "there ought a be a law!!!" types here. The original post certainly isn't of a free market bent.

Most of it's all snake-oil anyway. It was a rip-off to begin with - now it's just a bigger rip off.