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Let's Talk Big Pharma and the Inhaler Lobby

Renae

Renae

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Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

I think big Pharma is most concerned about your weight loss, mostly in the wallet area.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

My wife as asthma, and has a rescue inhaler and a normal inhaler. Neither drug nor inhaler technology is any different than before, but these inhalers are quite expensive. They didn't used to be, but there is no control on the system and Big Pharma has lost any amount of shame or decency. Look at Pharma-Bro, it's exactly the state of things. These companies are continually jacking their prices sky high with little to no regard.

I don't know, certainly many of these things do not have a lot of cost associated with manufacturing, and while it is true that a lot of effort goes into research and development, I do think that it's gotten out of hand as of late.

https://undark.org/article/asthma-inhalers-cost-bill-took-breath-away/

This article brings up an interesting point that insurance tends to pick up most of the bill. So while a maintenance inhaler could be a few hundred bucks, we pay maybe 25-30 bucks. But all that extra money is eventually passed on to us in the form of higher and higher insurance premiums and the like. Plus, if you happen to lose your insurance for a bit...man are you screwed.

Other countries don't have quite the same pricing as America does, but Big Pharma has the ear of Big Gov, and so I don't see any realistic changes in the near future.
 
Last edited:
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

Trump promised to end Big Pharma abuse of consumers. I don't know that the Trump Administration has done anything toward seriously out of control prices charged to consumers. I've heard nothing about it.

It won't hurt if you lodge a complaint with your elected people in DC. Hopefully, if everyone puts enough pressure on them they will have to act on the public's behalf. That of course isn't happening now because as we all know Big Pharma owns most elected officials.

FYI, there was a time not to very long ago when we used to be able to call our Congressional Rep's and Senator's offices, local and national, and actually talk to a live staffer. Those days are gone, at least here in Arizona. These days when you call you get a recorded message and are told to leave a message, which I suspect they simply dump. Unless you are calling to donate money or volunteer don't expect to hear back from anyone. At least you can try by leaving a message.

Good luck.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

My wife uses the Advair Disc as a preventative. Most pharmacies charge us 30$ a disc. Luckily I work for a major hospital and get the employee discount: 3 discs for 12$.

Once Big Pharma gets the patent on something a group of people need to live, that group pays more, sometimes a lot more. AIDS meds, Epipens, certain diabetic meds, certain cancer meds, just off the top of my head, have all been monopolized and gouged over the last couple years. It's no wonder more and more people hate Big Pharma.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

I'll be the CFC regulations did that. Excessive regulation has direct costs in unexpected ways. I mean your 1/2 oz of CFC could be the 1/2 oz that saved the planet! A bubble headed bureaucrat probably didn't even think about inhalers, but the makers got a whole new lease on life on their patents.
 
I have a BC/BS Medicare advantage part B plan yet my daily inhaler costs me over $100 a month out of pocket and the rescue inhaler is another $100 out of pocket for that inhaler.
 
minnie616 said:
I have a BC/BS Medicare advantage part B plan yet my daily inhaler costs me over $100 a month out of pocket and the rescue inhaler is another $100 out of pocket for that inhaler.
Click to expand...

It's ridiculous. I'm sorry you have to pay so much out of pocket.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

While "America cant do things right anymore" stories are a dime a dozen I feel your pain.

AND Welcome Back!

:2wave:
 
Renae said:
It's ridiculous. I'm sorry you have to pay so much out of pocket.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Me too . For both you and I and the millions of others.
 
Renae said:
Recently the wife and I suffered Flu-B and it sucked.

Part of my treatment was an albuterol inhaler.


It's not very effective, but it did cost me 65 bucks before insurance (it was 25 with).

I was flabbberghasted, the cost of an inhaler is beyond ridiculous. I remember the old Primatine Mist inhalers, they worked, were cheap and I don't get why they are gone.

You can look it up, it was pulled because it had "CFC" propellant! (the damage these did was minuscule but who cares about breathing cheap right?) And the HCF Propellant replacement has been mired in FDA bull****.

A nominally 20 dollar OTC breathing assistant replaced by a doctor required prescription, expensive and POS inhaler.

It's insane, it pisses me off, and I hope to hell they can get Primeatine back on the market.
Click to expand...

Primatene mist inhalers did come off the market because of CFCs. But good riddance. We (pharmacists and pulmonologists) were rooting for it to be yanked off the market in the early 90s just because of safety and efficacy reasons.

They ended up reformulating it in a HFC inhaler, as required by law (yes, small amounts of CFCs are really bad for the ozone layer) and an advisory committee to the FDA outright rejected it to be sold, because the drug sucks for asthma and can cause a whole lot more problems than it solves. Epinephrine is a fine drug, just not as an OTC inhaler treatment. Note.. this isnt the FDA rejecting it.. its an advisory board made up of experts who advises the FDA. Also note... this has almost nothing to do with 'big pharma' because these drugs are fairly old, and relatively inexpensive as far as drug treatments go. Nobody is making giant bucks off of albuterol, which has about four different brands and alternatives available. (yay free market, right?)

I dont think that drug will ever return to the market, and I hope we see albuterol go OTC before Primatene ever comes back.

In the short time I worked in a primary care clinic, I saw more than a couple people coming in with real issues with asthma and they tried to manage with Primatene OTC.. whereas albuterol was much, much more effective and much safer, since it doesn't have nearly the same cardiac and BP effects as epinephrine does, but it specifically opens up airways via the same mechanism. I have no doubt that the availability of Primatene over the years has led to thousands of people having their respiratory disorders treated badly and quite likely has lead to deaths, especially deaths of inadequately treated children. In addition, unmonitored use of adrenergic inhalers clearly leads to more ED visits, which costs the entire health care system lots of money.

And if Primatene was OTC today.... it probably would be more than $20, meaning that the better drug you got via your insurance for $25 is a great deal. You can also get a sample size of Ventolin, which should cost about $20 and has 60 inhalations, which should be enough to tide someone over with a limited illness like the flu.

But much like your ranting about climate change, your being pissed off is more a function of your ignorance than reality.
 
Threegoofs said:
Primatene mist inhalers did come off the market because of CFCs. But good riddance. We (pharmacists and pulmonologists) were rooting for it to be yanked off the market in the early 90s just because of safety and efficacy reasons.

They ended up reformulating it in a HFC inhaler, as required by law (yes, small amounts of CFCs are really bad for the ozone layer) and an advisory committee to the FDA outright rejected it to be sold, because the drug sucks for asthma and can cause a whole lot more problems than it solves. Epinephrine is a fine drug, just not as an OTC inhaler treatment. Note.. this isnt the FDA rejecting it.. its an advisory board made up of experts who advises the FDA. Also note... this has almost nothing to do with 'big pharma' because these drugs are fairly old, and relatively inexpensive as far as drug treatments go. Nobody is making giant bucks off of albuterol, which has about four different brands and alternatives available. (yay free market, right?)

I dont think that drug will ever return to the market, and I hope we see albuterol go OTC before Primatene ever comes back.

In the short time I worked in a primary care clinic, I saw more than a couple people coming in with real issues with asthma and they tried to manage with Primatene OTC.. whereas albuterol was much, much more effective and much safer, since it doesn't have nearly the same cardiac and BP effects as epinephrine does, but it specifically opens up airways via the same mechanism. I have no doubt that the availability of Primatene over the years has led to thousands of people having their respiratory disorders treated badly and quite likely has lead to deaths, especially deaths of inadequately treated children. In addition, unmonitored use of adrenergic inhalers clearly leads to more ED visits, which costs the entire health care system lots of money.

And if Primatene was OTC today.... it probably would be more than $20, meaning that the better drug you got via your insurance for $25 is a great deal. You can also get a sample size of Ventolin, which should cost about $20 and has 60 inhalations, which should be enough to tide someone over with a limited illness like the flu.

But much like your ranting about climate change, your being pissed off is more a function of your ignorance than reality.
Click to expand...

It's not a shock you're a shill for big pharma and government controlling peoples lives.
 
Renae said:
It's not a shock you're a shill for big pharma and government controlling peoples lives.
Click to expand...

Actually he not being a shill for big pharma. What he said is correct. We saw a number of folks with cardiac problems and respiratory problems after misuse and actual abuse of Primatene mist inhalers.
 
jaeger19 said:
Actually he not being a shill for big pharma. What he said is correct. We saw a number of folks with cardiac problems and respiratory problems after misuse and actual abuse of Primatene mist inhalers.
Click to expand...

100 dollar inhalers that need a doctor visit.
20 dollar OTC

Shilling for big pharma and Govt. It wasn't "health" reasons that banned Primatine, it was stupid CFC scare crap as the excuse to line the pockets of the big pharma companies.
 
Renae said:
100 dollar inhalers that need a doctor visit.
20 dollar OTC

Shilling for big pharma and Govt. It wasn't "health" reasons that banned Primatine, it was stupid CFC scare crap as the excuse to line the pockets of the big pharma companies.
Click to expand...

Actually no:

critics say that Primatene Mist is not an effective asthma treatment.

The active ingredient in Primatene Mist is epinephrine, commonly known as adrenaline. Although this ingredient opens the airways of asthma patients, it can also have potentially serious side effects on the heart and blood vessels.

These side effects, in turn, can lead to increased blood pressure and palpitations, doctors say.

"I would argue that based solely on the [lack of] efficacy and harm of over-the-counter asthma inhalers to patients, that these products should be withdrawn from the market regardless of their contribution to the CFCs in the environment," said Dr. Ronald Ferdman at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.

According to Wyeth, 2 million people use the product in combination with other inhalers, and another 1 million use it alone. It generated about $43 million in sales last year.

Instead of Primatene Mist, physicians most often use a drug called albuterol to provide quick-acting relief to patients who suffer the symptoms of asthma. Doctors say that albuterol is much safer than Primatene Mist because it is longer-acting and has fewer side effects.
The real concern is letting people self-medicate their asthma and potentially get into serious trouble covering up the symptoms," Murray said. "If [Primatene Mist is] pulled from the market, the result would hopefully bring more asthmatics to seek appropriate medical care."

Dr. Clifford Basset, medical director at the Allergy and Asthma Care of New York, agrees these drugs can increase the risk of harm to patients.

"Over-the-counter asthma inhalers will delay proper ... treatment for asthma, which can be associated with fatalities," said Basset.

Unlike the common cold, asthma is a disease that needs specialized care, Ferdman said.

"Some diseases can be treated without the help of a doctor," he said. Asthma is not one of these."
Click to expand...

Threegoofs had it right. It was a recommendation by the advisory panel because of the risks versus the benefits of the medication.. not CFC scare tactics
 
jaeger19 said:
Actually no:



Threegoofs had it right. It was a recommendation by the advisory panel because of the risks versus the benefits of the medication.. not CFC scare tactics
Click to expand...

It was banned due to the Montreal Protocols, not anything else, the lame excuse of "dangerous" came later after that was debunked. In the end, the people have to pay out the ass for a ****ty Albuterol inhaler that costs 5 times as much as what we used to get otc.

End of story.
 
Renae said:
It was banned due to the Montreal Protocols, not anything else, the lame excuse of "dangerous" came later after that was debunked. In the end, the people have to pay out the ass for a ****ty Albuterol inhaler that costs 5 times as much as what we used to get otc.

End of story.
Click to expand...

Facts are facts. I presented them.. if you don't want to believe the medical facts... that's up to you.
 
Renae said:
It was banned due to the Montreal Protocols, not anything else, the lame excuse of "dangerous" came later after that was debunked. In the end, the people have to pay out the ass for a ****ty Albuterol inhaler that costs 5 times as much as what we used to get otc.

End of story.
Click to expand...

It was banned due to CFCs (which haven’t been ‘debunked’ by anyone outside of CT posters) but once it was (thankfully) taken off the market, everyone knew it would never get approved again because it was such a bad idea.

Love how now your inhaler costs five times more, when it was only five bucks more a few posts ago.
 
Risky Thicket said:
Trump promised to end Big Pharma abuse of consumers. I don't know that the Trump Administration has done anything toward seriously out of control prices charged to consumers. I've heard nothing about it.
Click to expand...

He hasn't done anything, and I seriously doubt he ever would because he's a big corp sort of guy. But I would give him major props should he ever try to do something legitimate regarding the stranglehold Big Pharma has over the US healthcare system.
 
Ikari said:
My wife as asthma, and has a rescue inhaler and a normal inhaler. Neither drug nor inhaler technology is any different than before, but these inhalers are quite expensive. They didn't used to be, but there is no control on the system and Big Pharma has lost any amount of shame or decency. Look at Pharma-Bro, it's exactly the state of things. These companies are continually jacking their prices sky high with little to no regard.

I don't know, certainly many of these things do not have a lot of cost associated with manufacturing, and while it is true that a lot of effort goes into research and development, I do think that it's gotten out of hand as of late.

https://undark.org/article/asthma-inhalers-cost-bill-took-breath-away/

This article brings up an interesting point that insurance tends to pick up most of the bill. So while a maintenance inhaler could be a few hundred bucks, we pay maybe 25-30 bucks. But all that extra money is eventually passed on to us in the form of higher and higher insurance premiums and the like. Plus, if you happen to lose your insurance for a bit...man are you screwed.

Other countries don't have quite the same pricing as America does, but Big Pharma has the ear of Big Gov, and so I don't see any realistic changes in the near future.
Click to expand...

Huh, with the insurance I have, I can get an inhaler once a month with a copay of like 25 bucks too. :shrug:

But yeah, I guess the premiums are a whole nother beast.
 
Luftwaffe said:
Huh, with the insurance I have, I can get an inhaler once a month with a copay of like 25 bucks too. :shrug:

But yeah, I guess the premiums are a whole nother beast.
Click to expand...

That's how a lot of it gets hidden, I think. A good way to game the system. In the end, companies should certainly be allowed a profit, but a lot of this gets to the realm of outright price gouging, particularly for medication that cannot be avoided.
 
Ikari said:
Oh really? It's almost as if I hadn't written something along the lines of



​lol
[/I][/COLOR]
Click to expand...

"too"

It's in agreement with you, in fact, with the ending of my post I think I'm almost entirely in agreement with you. My bad with the shrug I think that may have muddied up the meaning of my post. I just came back after a long hiatus.
 
Luftwaffe said:
"too"

It's in agreement with you, in fact, with the ending of my post I think I'm almost entirely in agreement with you. My bad with the shrug I think that may have muddied up the meaning of my post. I just came back after a long hiatus.
Click to expand...

My apologies, I edited that post as I misunderstood.
 
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