Ok, let's be fair and deduct 50% for advertising, packaging, stocking, etc. That makes the value of Abreva, $1,710/lb about the same worth as a troy of GOLD.
Actually, ABREVA might be a safer investment than fluxuating GOLD (snark).
.07 oz of Abreva averages $15+ retail. 16 oz divided by .07 oz = 228 units times $15/unit = $3,420 per pound. How is it even possible that this is allowed?
There is nothing protecting the consumer from blatant price gouging in this country. We are captive to whatever prices Corporate America chooses to charge, especially by the Pharma and Health Care product industries.
Btw, my friend shared a cheap alternative that really works for us. Dove Ultimate Beauty Care Anti-Perspirant, if applied to an area works as well as Abreva for a fraction of the cost. It does not have the same ingredient; however, it works like a charm for us.
Hmm, what is the Dove Anti-Perspirant worth per pound. 2.6 oz = 6 units per pound, @ $3.79/unit/2.6oz x 6 units per pound = $23.32 a pound less cost to produce/advertise/stock
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I almost forgot, ABREVA became an interest when, one day I went to WalGreens and they were charging $6.00 more than the Kroger Grocery store across the street for Abreva.
I thought, WTH? Whose price gouging? Abreva? WalGreens? Kroger? All of them?
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UPDATE: From the 2007 San Francisco Chronicle. Abreva lost the law suit:
A state appeals court on Thursday approved a settlement of a false-advertising suit against makers of the cold sore medication Abreva that includes millions of dollars in discount coupons and a $1 million cold sore research project funded by the companies.
The nationwide suit was filed in San Francisco in 2002 against Avanir Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, and accused them of falsely claiming in ads that Abreva cuts healing time in half. The companies acknowledged no wrongdoing in the settlement but stopped using the ads more than four years ago, the court said.
The Federal and State governments do nothing to protect the public from price gouging. We are helpless victims of whatever prices charged.
Here's a couple of personal experiences:
EXAMPLE 1: I take one med for sleep, one pill per night. My Doc prescribes 100 pills per prescription. The price at my local grocer is $44, HOWEVER, if I ask for Costco pricing the cost drops to $11 for the 100 pills.
Question: What price is charged to Medicare? $44 or $11?
EXAMPLE 2: At a local coffee shop a high, wooden stool crashed onto my foot. It swelled hugely instantly. I don't have health insurance because they are allowed to charge between $6k - $8K a year and I can't afford that. So, I called the local hospital to ask what it would cost to come in to have it X-rayed in case there was a broken bone.
I was quoted $1,200 just for intake and approximately $250 for the X-rays. True!
So I asked if there was another way. I was told that if I went to my doctor and got a referral the cost would drop to just the cost of the x-rays or $250.
So I asked if there was a discount if I paid cash. Yes, if I paid cash I would get a 50% discount.
So, I went to the Doctor, cost $45 because I paid him cash. I went to the hospital to get the X-rays, cost $125 because I paid cash.
I thought I was done, but a month later I got a bill for $25 from a place in Indianna.
I called the hospital and, after a couple of people in billing had "no idea" about the Indianna bill, I learned that the local hospital doesn't have a Radiologist and that they have a place in Indianna reading the X-rays.
I paid the place in Indianna $25.
So, what would have cost me
$1,200 intake
250 Xrays
25 Indianna Radiologist
$1,475 TOTAL
Ended up costing the Insurer for the Coffee shop
$ 125 Xrays
45 Doctor Visit
25 Indianna Radiologist
$ 300 TOTAL
I saved $1,175 just by asking enough and the right questions.
AND YET, most people using the Emergency Room have no idea about any of this because the Emergency Rooms don't broadcast this information.
Medicare and especially Medicaid and SChip are probably paying the high rates demonstrated in the example above.
And as far as cold sores, which I only get if I eat chocolate, peanut butter and potato chips, I prefer paying $23.32/lb for Dove Anti-Perspirant than paying $3,420/lb for Abreva.
A FASCINATING ASIDE for the Scientifically Minded Reader:
Docosanol is the active ingredient in Abreva cold sore remedy. Docosanol has been clinically proven to shorten cold sore healing time.
Docosanol and its metabolite (n-docosanoic acid) are present in many common foods and are virtually unavoidable in the diet. Common dietary sources of n-docosanoic acid include chocolate, peanuts, and certain oils. It also occurs in a variety of unprocessed fruits and vegetables.
Docosanoic acid is the systematic name. The common name is Behenic acid. Go to Page 42 to verify.
Behenic Acid used to process foods raises cholestoral.
The conclusion of the above study:
Despite its low bioavailability compared with oleic acid, behenic acid is a cholesterol-raising fatty acid in humans and is therefore not a suitable substitute for palmitic acid in manufactured triacylglycerols.Am J Clin Nutr 2001;73:41–4.
For those wanting more information, bohenin is also used to describe behenic acid.
Here's an FDA letter in response to using it in chocolate, dated August, 2000:
Agency Response Letter GRAS Notice No. GRN 000050 CFSAN/Office of Premarket Approval
In accordance with the interim policy discussed in the GRAS proposal (62 FR 18938 at 18954), FDA has not committed any resources to review of GRP 4G0407 since June 20, 2000, the date that we received your conversion request. At this time, we request that you formally withdraw GRP 4G0407.
BACK TO THE MAIN POINT: PRICE CONTROLS, THERE ARE NONE!
CONCLUSIONS:
1. Perhaps Abreva is a better investment than GOLD.
2. Food additives and certain foods can induce cold sores and raise blool cholestorol levels, which help increase sales of Abreva and drugs like Lipitor.
3. The public is not well-informed about health care cost options.
4. Based on Example 2 above, hospitals can easily bilk the public/patient, Medicare, Medicaid, and SChip by NOT informing them of cost options.
5. The public has NO protections from any Government Agency that the public's money pays for to protect the public from price gouging.
And we wonder where the money comes from to pay CEO's Multi-Million Dollar Annual wages.
WHAT IS OUR RECOURSE?
1. Educate ourselves.
2. Share information, like using Dove Anti-Perspirant instead of Abreva
3. BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT, BOYCOTT
PAINFUL TRUTH:
In case you haven't noticed, like slow boiling frogs, we are becoming impoverished and increasingly wage insecure. It took 30 freaking years for us to wake up to this fact.
So, you may think that national strikes and boycotts will harm us.
Well, unless we use our collective buying power NOW, most of us will be financially destroyed anyway.
Let's take back our power. Unless we do, things will only get worse.
Buying Strikes and Boycotts are not arrestable offences.
Besides, perhaps it would be better to funnel our disposable capital to families in need instead of PRICE GOUGING CORPORATIONS OF GREED.
IN TEN YEARS OR LESS, WE WILL ONLY HAVE A FEW RETAIL OUTLETS LEFT. WE WILL BE COMPLETELY BOXED IN AND AT THE MERCY OF WHATEVER PRICES THEY CHOOSE TO CHARGE.
I'm not so sure that only a few already own and control what appear to be multiple retail outlets. How would we know?
OVERCOME THE ADDICTION TO SHOPPING. Either save or share, sharing being the better option. What goes around, comes around if the majority believe in the wonder of sharing.