The latest drug scam: Citalopram 30 mg Capsules
Like many of you, my inbox is full of emails about a new form of Citalopram from a company called Almatica.
Citalopram, generic since 2003, has come as three forms of tablets: 10 mg, 20 mg, and 40 mg. The problem is we often need to prescribe 30 mg. This necessitated prescribing both a 10 mg tablet and a 20 mg tablet.’
On the scale of doctor-patient inconveniences, this one hardly ranks noticing.
Now, comes the price comparison!
The price for 30 pills of each size are:
- 10 mg: $4 at Walmart
- 20 mg: $4 at Walmart
- 40 mg: $4 at Walmart
That means prescribing 30 mg will cost the patient $8 per month at Walmart
.Now let’s look at Almatica’s Citalopram 30 mg capsule:
$147 per month at Walmart (which is pretty much in line with most of the other pharmacies).
Hmmm…Should you waste your day trying to get this prior authorized for patients? You know insurance will kick this out, as it should.
This is a scam from Almatica, pure and simple. The company hopes you simply will not discover the true price!
But, you, as an astute physician, read this amazing blog and…….NOW YOU KNOW!!
I bailed out and retired three and a half years ago. Citalopram was brand name Lexapro in my day and I couldn’t prescribe it often as the insurers would only pay for generics. Thank heavens Prozac/Fluoxetine was generic at the time. I’m so, so, so glad I don’t have to deal with this B.S. anymore. Only thing I can say is save your money and retire from primary care medicine as soon as you can. Don’t have too many kids too is another bit of advice. Two years retired as of tomorrow (the 30th) and happy as heck to be done.
Is anybody here surprised?
In the eye business, we have generic eyedrops that are too strong and cause a lot of irritation. If you want to order the proper lower strength it is a bran name at 4 times the price. Give me a break…….Big Pharma gets to extend their monopoly just by changing the strength or by using different additives/preservatives which they claim make it a new and better product. Most patients will just put up with these annoying side effects just to avoid paying about $100/month for the brand name…….and we are talking about a .1% solution……how much money is in that little bottle???? LOCK THEM UP and please Mr Patient, I do not get any money/ gifts from Big Pharma….they stopped that about 10 years ago……but I do remember at the start of my career…..the good old days!
Everything is a business model.. Let The Buyer Beware. Shop and Compare.. Not many do..
Happens over and over again..
Scam isn’t the word!!! Profiteering is more like it!!
And you wonder why people don’t trust Big Pharma as far as they can throw them!!!!