Haters of Big Pharma, rejoice! Pfizer has been smacked with a $2.3 billion (yes, with a B) civil penalty which includes a $1.2 billion criminal fine after they did some very, very bad things while promoting painkiller Bextra and other drugs. That’s the largest criminal fine in American history. Let’s hope they’re proud!
prescriptions
Lexapro's Marketing Plan Shows How Drug Maker Pushes New Drugs
By 9.3.09
The Senate just released 88 pages of a confidential 270+ page marketing plan by Forest Laboratories, created in 2004 and focused on how to get doctors to prescribe the antidepressant Lexapro over similar but cheaper alternatives such as Celexa. The New York Times notes that the line between marketing and education seems to be heavily blurred, which may not surprise you. There are, however, two interesting notes for consumers who may be taking Lexapro.
CVS Will Automatically Refill Your Prescription, Consent Be Damned
By 8.10.09
CVS pharmacies apparently don’t need consent to enroll customers in ReadyFill, a program that signs customers up for the maximum allowable number of prescription refills and then robocalls them when their drugs are ready. According to a veteran pharmacist, the automatic enrollments began after CVS’ corporate office set specific performance targets that would affect bonuses for managers and pharmacists. Inside, the pharmacist tells us what ReadyFill is, how it works, and how to escape those annoying robocalls…
Silly Consumer, Did You Think Your Prescription Info Was Private?
By 8.10.09
The NYT has the story of a woman who, more than 10 years after she tried and failed to have a baby using in vitro procedures, is still getting marketing information for all sorts of products. First it was Pampers and baby formula — then, as the baby she did not have “grew up,” so did the marketing offers. How did they get her information? They bought it.
Sam's Club Apologizes For Candy-In-Prescription-Bottles Promo
By 6.25.09
We have also shared with all of our pharmacy departments that this is an unacceptable practice and should not be repeated. At Sam’s Club we always have the health and welfare of our customers and members in mind with everything we do and we deeply regret that this incident occurred.
"Why Is CVS Automatically Refilling My Prescriptions?"
By 6.1.09
It took three calls from CVS’ automated reminder service for me to realize what was going on: CVS Pharmacy was refilling our prescriptions without our asking for them to be refilled, and then their automated dialer was calling us to notify us that we had a prescription waiting. Nobody in my family requested to have a prescription refilled, yet three times CVS called us to tell us to come and pick up our prescription.
By 6.1.09
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More cheap online eyeglass sources for the focus-challenged among us: Optical4less and Goggles4U. Yeah, they sound like scam sites, but Kevin Kelly vouches for them. [Cool Tools]
CVS Can't Get Its Billing Straight, Tells Patient He Has To Pay For His Own Kidney Transplant Meds
By 5.27.09
Chris has to take the immunosuppressant drug Prograf because of a kidney transplant, and it costs nearly $300 for a one month supply. Yesterday, he found out that someone at CVS corporate has instructed his local pharmacist to start billing him directly, apparently because his secondary insurer hasn’t been paying for nearly two years.
Recent Class Action Lawsuits: Are You Eligible?
By 5.22.09
We’ve heard about quite a few recent class-action settlements that you just might be eligible for, as well as cute little baby suits still looking for claimants. Products included: energy drinks, name-brand prescription drugs, and zombie microwaves.
8 Million Patient Records Stolen From Virginia State Database, Held For Ransom
By 5.5.09
The Washington Post says that a hacker encrypted 8 million patient prescription records from a Virginia state website last week, deleted the backups, and replaced the home page with a ransom note. If the state doesn’t pay $10 million within 7 days, the hacker has threatened to sell the data to the highest bidder.
Costco Fixes Customer's Botched Electronic Prescription
By 5.1.09
If you get your prescriptions filled electronically, always double-check the dosage. Kimberly’s prescription was recently screwed up somewhere between the physician filling out the order online and Costco’s pharmacist receiving it. Luckily for her, the Costco pharmacist was incredibly helpful and fixed the problem for her, so Kimberly didn’t have to waste her copay or deal with the issue on her own. He also explained, however, that the current state of electronic prescriptions is a big mess.
Walgreens Pharmacist Sends Hand Written Thank You Note To Customer
By 4.30.09
Whether it’s rational or not, there’s something very satisfying when your pharmacist acknowledges you personally—it makes you feel like this expert you’re placing such trust in takes the job, and you, seriously. In our experience it’s a rare thing to see from pharmacists at chain drugstores, but Mike just had a great encounter with his Walgreens pharmacist when he moved to a new town.
Walmart's Prescription Drug Couriers Arrested For Speeding, Smoking
By 4.26.09
When you think “prescription drugs,” you think of clean, sterile facilities, not three stoners driving 100 mph down I-15 with $30,000 of Walmart’s prescription narcotics in the backseat. Cops pulled the trio over, which included two illegal immigrants, and called Walmart to confirm that these were the folks employed to deliver their dirt-cheap drugs. “They said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late.”
Walgreen Health Clinics Now Free For Unemployed
By 4.1.09
Walgreen has announced that if you’re willing to provide proof of unemployment and sign a form that says you lost your health benefits along with your job, you and your uninsured family members can receive free treatment at any of their 300+ in-store health clinics. What’s covered: “respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments.” What’s not: checkups, vaccinations or other injections, and prescriptions.
By 3.19.09
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If you transfer a prescription to RiteAid, you’ll receive a $25 gift card. Emily, who tipped us to this, says the cashier told her you could do this for up to four meds, but their website says just two. Also, you can’t use the gift card to pay for prescriptions. Still, hey, free money if you don’t mind where you get your prescription filled. [Rite Aid]
Which Drugs Aren't Overpriced And Crappy?
By 3.17.09
Using the power of unbiased science to see which meds are the most cost-effective, Consumer Reports launched a new publication Best Drugs for Less this week. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you’re not in anyone’s pockets except your readers’.
Target's Pharmacy Will Not Answer Questions One Minute After Closing?
By 1.7.09
If you’re picking up your prescriptions close to closing time at Target’s pharmacy, you might want to make sure you don’t have any questions after closing time. Reader Kathy says she realized that she had a question about her son’s prescription immediately after picking up the prescription, but when she turned around to ask it — she was too late.
Medicare Costs Going Up In 2009, So Be Ready To Compare Plans
By 9.27.08
If there’s one group of Americans who don’t carry their weight and need to pay more money to the healthcare industry, it’s those layabout senior citizens! That’s why their Medicare drug premiums are increasing by an average of 31% for the 10 most popular plans beginning in 2009. If you were with Humana, formerly the cheapest Medicare drug plan you could get (its premium was $9.51 in 2006), you can expect to pay $40.83 per month in 2009, an increase of 60% over this year’s rate. As you would expect, Humana is no longer the cheapest option—so it may be time to shop around for a new plan.
