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URGENT QUESTION ON VENTOLIN PRICES

  • 08-04-2012 4:12pm
    #1
    portcrap
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 296 ✭✭


    Hi,

    working on a report and need an urgent answer to this question please?

    Why is ventolin priced at $40 in the US and €8 in ireland? why the price difference?

    Do the irish government subsidize ventolin inhalers?

    Please help... thanks!!!


Comments

  • #2
    iscr
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12 ✭iscr


    I'm not sure the Americans invented salbutamol, I think the europeans might have so they probably don't use it that much . Also, by any chance are you pricing the R isomer rather than racemic ventolin like we use here? I know the Canadians use the enantiomer that isn't associated with sudden death in asthmatics as the racemic salbutamol we use is


  • #3
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    The most likely reason is the simplest; healthcare is very very expensive in the US.


  • #4
    kingofkong
    Closed Accounts Posts: 44 ✭kingofkong


    I think that all drugs bought in Ireland are first bought by the government and then sold to the pharmacies in an effort to cut out for-profit wholesalers....or something like that I THINK


  • #5
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    kingofkong wrote: »
    I think that all drugs bought in Ireland are first bought by the government and then sold to the pharmacies in an effort to cut out for-profit wholesalers....or something like that I THINK

    You're COMPLETELY wrong!

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056595821


  • #6
    Carsinian Thau
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,054 ✭✭✭Carsinian Thau


    locum-motion wrote: »
    You're COMPLETELY wrong!

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056595821

    You just linked to yourself as proof that someone else was wrong.

    Do you have an external source or anything?


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  • #7
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    Carsinian Thau wrote: »
    You just linked to yourself as proof that someone else was wrong.

    Do you have an external source or anything?

    I linked to myself because it's an answer I've previously typed to a similar question.

    The other poster claimed that all drugs in this country are purchased by the government before being sold on to pharmacies (and added "I THINK"). I was just pointing out that they think wrong, and the other thread explains why.

    I am a pharmacist, as is well known on these forums. I am therefore an authoritative source on this subject. Sometimes, a poster on a forum can, by virtue of their own expertise/profession/etc, be an authoritative source on a subject without having to post multiple external references that back them up.

    You ask for an external source. How about the inch & a half thick bundle of invoices from United Drug Limited for drugs that I (well, my boss, really) have bought so far in April? Would you like to see it? Would you then believe that the other poster is wrong?

    Or alternatively, read that other thread where I explained precisely what the government's input into the procurement of medicines is. Note that none of the 356 people who have read it so far has come back and said "Well, actually, you're wrong. The government buys all the medicines." If that was the case, surely somebody would have pulled me up on it before now!


  • #8
    Tree
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 4,754 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tree


    Carsinian Thau wrote: »
    You just linked to yourself as proof that someone else was wrong.

    Do you have an external source or anything?
    I think as a pharmacist, he would have a lot of experience and understanding of how drugs are paid for. A link to his careful explanation of how the pharmacy costing is done saves duplication of the same discussion over here.


  • #9
    Motorist
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 892 ✭✭✭Motorist


    Very detailed answer by locum motion and well worded.

    Just one small point " They've since reduced it further, to a margin of 8%, so the Pharmacy is now reimbursed €91.80 (85 + 8% = 91.80) "

    From the example should the reimbursement price not be 92 euro if the reduction was by 8%, or is it the case that the reduction was 8.2%


  • #10
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    Motorist wrote: »
    Very detailed answer by locum motion and well worded.

    Just one small point " They've since reduced it further, to a margin of 8%, so the Pharmacy is now reimbursed €91.80 (85 + 8% = 91.80) "

    From the example should the reimbursement price not be 92 euro if the reduction was by 8%, or is it the case that the reduction was 8.2%

    No, what I said was that the margin is 8%, so on our hypothetical example with a Factory Gate price of €85, the Reimbursement Price is now €91.80.
    (€85 + 8% = €91.80)


  • #11
    Motorist
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 892 ✭✭✭Motorist


    locum-motion wrote: »
    No, what I said was that the margin is 8%, so on our hypothetical example with a Factory Gate price of €85, the Reimbursement Price is now €91.80.
    (€85 + 8% = €91.80)

    Oh yeah, shouldn't be readn't that stuff so late at night !


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  • #12
    locum-motion
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,143 ✭✭✭locum-motion


    Motorist wrote: »
    ... readn't ...

    Shouldn't be typin' at 1822 either, by the looks of things!
    :p


  • #13
    Carsinian Thau
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,054 ✭✭✭Carsinian Thau


    locum-motion wrote: »
    I linked to myself because it's an answer I've previously typed to a similar question.

    The other poster claimed that all drugs in this country are purchased by the government before being sold on to pharmacies (and added "I THINK"). I was just pointing out that they think wrong, and the other thread explains why.

    I am a pharmacist, as is well known on these forums. I am therefore an authoritative source on this subject. Sometimes, a poster on a forum can, by virtue of their own expertise/profession/etc, be an authoritative source on a subject without having to post multiple external references that back them up.

    You ask for an external source. How about the inch & a half thick bundle of invoices from United Drug Limited for drugs that I (well, my boss, really) have bought so far in April? Would you like to see it? Would you then believe that the other poster is wrong?

    Or alternatively, read that other thread where I explained precisely what the government's input into the procurement of medicines is. Note that none of the 356 people who have read it so far has come back and said "Well, actually, you're wrong. The government buys all the medicines." If that was the case, surely somebody would have pulled me up on it before now!

    Apologies, I actually didn't know that you're a pharmacist so didn't know if you were an authoritative source or otherwise.
    locum-motion wrote: »
    You ask for an external source. How about the inch & a half thick bundle of invoices from United Drug Limited for drugs that I (well, my boss, really) have bought so far in April? Would you like to see it? Would you then believe that the other poster is wrong?

    I never claimed that the other poster was right btw.


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