{"id":43927,"date":"2016-03-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/the-hugely-inflated-prices-of-glumetza-and-metformin-er\/"},"modified":"2016-09-13T10:21:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:21:42","slug":"the-hugely-inflated-prices-of-glumetza-and-metformin-er","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927","title":{"rendered":"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been taking metformin (Glucophage<\/a>) for about three years. My doctor recommended it since my A1c reading had been climbing from about 5.5 to 6.3% over a two-year period. There is also a history of Type 2 diabetes on the paternal side of my family. Metformin caused me some stomach upset so I switched to Glumetza<\/a>, a coated form of the same drug, Glucophage, a standard treatment for diabetes that has been available in the United States since 1995. I have excellent insurance coverage and receive all my medications in the most economical form, three month prescriptions delivered by mail.<\/p>\n

On February 6th<\/sup>, Caremark mail service called to tell me there was a prescription coming for which I would have to sign. I told the caller that it was fine to leave it at the door. The Caremark representative said that was not possible since it was a high-value prescription. The prescription came the next day, I signed for it, and I checked the invoice only because the person on the phone had\u00a0told me it was a “high-value prescription” and I knew it was only metformin.<\/p>\n

When I looked at the bottom of the invoice I noticed that the listed price was $14,020.87. My co-pay was $40.00 I called Caremark to tell them about the computer error. I didn’t think it was possible that metformin cost $14,020.87. I was even more certain that this was a computer error because the prescription was not Glumetza, but a generic, metformin ER.<\/p>\n

It was no error.<\/p>\n

And it was a generic prescription.<\/p>\n

The brand name Glumetza, sold for over $16,000 for a three-month supply. I was even more stunned than angry and I began to check around. I was about seven months late to the Glumetza story. Probably many of you followed the sale of Glumetza in 2015 to the now notorious Valeant Pharmaceuticals<\/a>. By the time I reached an online forum complaining about Glumetza pricing, hundreds of people had already registered their complaints.<\/p>\n

Last year the New York Times reported that Valeant had purchased Salix<\/a>, the maker of Glumetza, and immediately raised the price by 800%. I also learned that Blue Cross of Idaho among others, had removed Glumetza from its formulary in July 2015 because of the sudden price increase. In the Times article<\/a> a Valeant spokesperson said that it was common practice to raise prices before the branded drug became a generic- Glumetza was scheduled to become a generic drug in February 2016.<\/p>\n

So, I may have been very late to the astonishing price increase of Glumetza, but I am, by coincidence, among the first to report that the generic price is almost as ridiculous<\/strong>. My bill, $14,009.23, was for the generic, available, as promised, in February 2016 and manufactured by Lupin<\/a>, an Indian pharmaceutical company that is the sixth largest maker of generics in the world.<\/strong> The Caremark “resolution specialist” assured me that his company did indeed pay $14,009.23 for generic metformin ER tablets.<\/strong> I called the local Rite Aid pharmacy to ask what a generic metformin prescription would cost. \u00a0The pharmacist told me $5.13 for a month supply of 500 mg metformin tablets. I checked a Canadian website which sells Glumetza, the branded drug, for $1.13 per 500 mg tablet. An American Internet wholesaler, Health Warehouse<\/a> charges $127 per tablet.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Walmart and others sell generic metformin and generic Metformin ER for a four dollar co-pay. I hadn’t thought my $40 co-pay was excessive, and I suppose it still isn’t if I’m only paying 10 times more than I would have to pay Walmart while my insurance company is paying $14,009.23 for a five dollar generic prescription.<\/p>\n

None of this makes any sense to me nor do I imagine it does to any other reasonable person. If you\u2019ve had a similar experience, please leave a comment below.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I may have been very late to the astonishing price increase of Glumetza, but I am, by coincidence, among the first to report that the generic price is almost as ridiculous. My bill, $14,009.23, was for the generic, available, as promised, in February 2016 and manufactured by Lupin, an Indian pharmaceutical company that is the sixth largest maker of generics in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":37974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1442,1541],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I have been taking metformin ( Glucophage ) for about three years. My doctor recommended it since my A1c reading had been climbing from about 5.5 to 6.3% ov\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Max Apple\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927\",\"name\":\"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-02T05:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-13T14:21:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/1cabec8d6a71dce69552ca838621c17f\"},\"description\":\"I have been taking metformin ( Glucophage ) for about three years. My doctor recommended it since my A1c reading had been climbing from about 5.5 to 6.3% ov\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg\",\"width\":849,\"height\":565,\"caption\":\"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/\",\"name\":\"ASweetLife\",\"description\":\"The Diabetes Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/1cabec8d6a71dce69552ca838621c17f\",\"name\":\"Max Apple\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f46cde5a1e0896f9641a8c96a1182b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f46cde5a1e0896f9641a8c96a1182b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Max Apple\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=83\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER","description":"I have been taking metformin ( Glucophage ) for about three years. My doctor recommended it since my A1c reading had been climbing from about 5.5 to 6.3% ov","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Max Apple","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927","name":"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg","datePublished":"2016-03-02T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-13T14:21:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/1cabec8d6a71dce69552ca838621c17f"},"description":"I have been taking metformin ( Glucophage ) for about three years. My doctor recommended it since my A1c reading had been climbing from about 5.5 to 6.3% ov","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pills-original.jpg","width":849,"height":565,"caption":"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=43927#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Hugely Inflated Prices of Glumetza and Metformin ER"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/","name":"ASweetLife","description":"The Diabetes Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/1cabec8d6a71dce69552ca838621c17f","name":"Max Apple","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f46cde5a1e0896f9641a8c96a1182b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1f46cde5a1e0896f9641a8c96a1182b5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Max Apple"},"url":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?author=83"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}