Community | July 28, 2010 | 31 comments

The Little Purple Pill Problem

source: http://www.anh-usa.org/the-little-purple-pill-problem/

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MotherForTruth
Forbes magazine calls it “a parable of what’s wrong with health care [costs].” We think that the popular drug Nexium is a scandal for a different reason – what it does to your digestion.

AstraZenica, the international pharmaceutical company worth $46.8 billion, began selling a drug called omeprazole in 1989 under the brand name Prilosec. It is a proton pump inhibitor, and it was marketed as a treatment for heartburn, peptic ulcer disease, and GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). Two years before the patent expired, AstraZeneca changed the formulation slightly and started selling it as a new patented drug, Nexium. What the drug company did not want was for consumers to stay with Prilosec, essentially identical to the new drug, once the old drug came off patent and the price collapsed.

This strategy worked. Nexium is easily AstraZeneca biggest seller, bringing in $5 billion so far. And part of that is its cost: $2,000 for a year’s supply. While the drug company says an average consumer only pays a $30 co-pay for Nexium, a recent Forbes article points out that the rest of us are paying for it with higher health insurance rates.

The article also provided more details about how the company managed the switch from Prilosec to Nexium: “Intense marketing around Nexium coincided with price increases for Prilosec, pushing many patients to Nexium. Doctors, easy to woo with drug sales reps bearing samples and company-commissioned research reports, were happy to write scripts for the new drug—and oblivious of the economic implications. Insurers and their corporate clients mostly wimped out, paying full freight for Nexium. Nobody wants to be the bad guy with employees’ health coverage. But the sum of many dubious coverage decisions adds up; the nation’s health spending keeps rising at 5% to 6% a year.” Prescription drug spending accounts for about 10% of the total health pie—which is estimated to be around $260 billion for 2010.

http://www.anh-usa.org/the-little-purple-pill-problem/

This is scandalous in a number of ways. First, Nexium is little different from Prilosec, which can be purchased for $13.50 for a month’s supply at Costco. The difference is, one version is patented and the other is not. The company has always justified the drug by pointing to a single study that found Nexium was three percentage points better at preventing a rare form of esophageal damage than Prilosec.

But even worse, as we reported last year, acid blockers like Prilosec and Nexium incorrectly treat most people’s stomach problems, including heartburn and GERD, by turning off acid production.

While it seems counterintuitive, recent studies suggest that the problem for most stomach sufferers is not too much stomach acid, but too little! Other maladies—bloating, belching, constipation, indigestion, and even thinning hair or breaking fingernails in women—may also be the result of too little acid. So antacids may actually be making the problem worse.

If antacids and acid blockers are a cause rather than a cure for stomach problems, this would rank as one of the major medical errors of history. For more information about why most stomach sufferers may need more stomach acid, not less, see Your Stomach by Dr. Jonathan Wright.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Body,   Unfeatured
  2. tags:
    Health,  AstraZeneca,  prilosec,  nexium
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31 comments // The Little Purple Pill Problem

  • congoboy
    • +1
      congoboy  

    • the u.s. pharmaceutical companys have not only been creating new drugs but new illnesses to treat them with. they have taken over the psyche's of america

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • congoboy
  • MotherForTruth
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • toyotabedzrock
    • 0
      toyotabedzrock  

    • The given explanation doesn't explain the dosage size difference between the two. The dosage size for Nexium is normally twice the size.

      I have taken both btw.

    • 1 year ago
  • toyotabedzrock
    • 0
      toyotabedzrock  

    • The given explanation doesn't explain the dosage size difference between the two. The dosage size for Nexium is normally twice the size.

      I have taken both btw.

    • 1 year ago
  • islek
  • freecrack
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • im not shilling for the pharmacutical companies at all, but check out the west wing episode about aids drugs in africa.i cant find it on you tube but it was an enlightening look at the situation

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • +1
      freecrack  

    • if you suffer from acid reflux, wich i do, that purple pill could give me scoliosis and id still take it.if acid reflux goes unchecked it will eat away your insides and in the end result in esophogial cancer, so its side affects are a lesser of two evils.
      the notion that prilosec and nexium are one in the same may be true to a chemist, but to me they arent even close.prilosec has a 25 percent success rate, and nexium is the ONLY pill to actualy allow me to sleep.

      also omitted from this article (unless i missed it) was the fact that nexium while being rediculously expensive, was the first pill i have ever needed that had a tollfree number to call to help me afford this unaffordable miracle.maybe im a sheep and i fell for it, but as far as im concerned nexium is awesome, as they seem to understand the importance of it in regards to the quality of life it gives acid reflux sufferers.

      while my asthma inhaler lost its cfc's making it less effective with noo alternative, nexium not only is the only product amongst many that gets the job done, but they dont rake you over the coals to get it.

    • 1 year ago
  • CalgarC
    • 0
      CalgarC  

    • rofl... they found out a big pharma drug is a scam... i am surprised it took so long... i have all the medicine i can get my hands on and it doesn't come from the doctors office :D

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • +2
      bailey78  

    • I can say with a smile on my face i don't eat any of that crap. I don't eat tums or rolaids or any other crap that is suppose to releave stomach problems. When I do have problems I change my diet works every time.

    • 1 year ago
  • Dmerza1989
    • 0
      Dmerza1989  

    • Very true I have been on about 5 different stomach medications! All of them made me feel better for about a month then stopped working or made problems worse! My best bet so far is to get a little thc in my body after most meals and when the nausea hits take a few puffs by the toilet, i cant stop the vomiting but i can sure make it 30x less painful

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
  • freecrack
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • freecrack:

      the wife and I went Vegetarian for about sixteen or so months a few years ago. I got my guts straghten out then went back to eating what I wanted. I run into some trouble some times but I find out I ate something that was to fatty or to much grease. Then my stomach goes to hell.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • bailey78:

      like i said you are fortunate, more so than some of us in this regard.thanks to acid reflux i cant have chocolate without running the risk of pain.cant have marinara sauce, or god forbid wine.
      i expect to pay for it when i eat taco bell (gave it up as my asshole damn near fell out last time i did) but some of us dont get to enjoy standard fare.

    • 1 year ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  
    • freecrack:

      I had no idea your asshole almost fell off:-} But even I on a good day fear the Taco Bell Shits and cramps and all the hell that comes from Taco Bell. Thats not food Thats Poison straght up crap to kill the masses. I don't eat the veggies that i should but I damn sure won't eat fast food like that. Don't get me wrong I have and i'm sure I will again one day. but i will go without if I know I get a healthy sandwich or a salad at a later time in the day. the acid reflux is another story if I smoke to much of the Herb I get it maybe from over eating caused by the Munchies not sure.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • bailey78:

      yeah i didnt even know ones asshole could fall off until taco bell damn near did it.so good going in and such hell going out.i swore it off now after that fatefull evening.i used to eat it like once a year, now im just done, i will never again know the flavor of a chalupa.

      acid reflux can manifest to varying degrees.i wouldnt worry too much about it but i would mention it to your doc.just associate it with chocolate not herb.cuz it doesnt get better on its own, believe me i tried, especially when before nexium the medication for it was hit or miss.

    • 1 year ago
  • regjoeschmo
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  

    • Wow the last part is really quite mind blowing. What if antacids are really making the problem worse?
      CALL IN THE LAWYERS and don't take pimped poison.
      2hellnwait has this exactly right!

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • treewolf39:

      its like a toothache.sure a root canal will fix it, but in lue of that option opiates are all that are left.i wish i could undergo a proceedure that would rectify my acid reflux, but i dont have that option.so its either live with a constant burning sensation in my thorax and sleep for two hour clips while sitting up like the elephant man, or take that pill.
      ill take the pill, or i literaly couldnt function.

      lol not that im so high functioning now but still

    • 1 year ago
  • treewolf39
    • 0
      treewolf39  
    • freecrack:

      Hey freecrack you only have yourself to blame if you eat taco bell. lol

      Four nights a week I eat steamed veggies for dinner. Broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, and carrot. Yum. The other nights I may have fish, (salmon) Beans and rice and salad. Every couple of weeks I eat a steak for good measure.
      No fast foods for about seven years and no alcohol for about five. My guts are much happier.

    • 1 year ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • treewolf39:

      i know it all too well.in fact i cant recall an instance in wich i have eaten taco bell since i was in highschool that i didnt acknowledge, ill be paying for this tomorrow.

      im fast food like maybe once or twice a month, but it really doesnt matter what i eat, pain will accompany.once i literally went through a period where i couldnt eat anything with out being doubled over in abdominal pain.i ate a plain bagel and ended up in the hospital, im a wierd case.but knowing this it is almost like why bother ya know.plus despite having rolls some how i am underwieght and need to pack on the calories.it is a wonderfull catch 22 i have some how found myself in

    • 1 year ago
  • randallr01
  • 2hellnwait
    • 0
      2hellnwait  

    • I agree, glamorization of "miracle drugs" (and many think they are), instead of the remedy's of old - regarded as worthless (by the current "superior" standards) - which in-spite of their intrinsic centurion knowledge has proven to be as effective if not more so than "modern" pharmaceuticals .

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • ampersand
    • +5
      ampersand  

    • A friend of mine who surfs in California and in Asia has a bit of an allergy. On route to Indonesia, he ran out of the inhaler prescribed for him in California. He took the prescription to a pharmacy in Bangkok and got it refilled.
      The cost in California for the inhaler was $110.
      The cost of the identical item (same Rx, same company, same inhaler) in Bangkok was $11.
      Have a nice day.

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • freecrack
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