Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Why did some pills suddenly get so expensive?

Well, I had been wondering that myself.

It appears that the FDA is trying to eliminate very old drugs that are widely used in conditions for which they were actually never proved to be safe and effective.

This in itself is not a bad idea. For example, a look into whether childrens' over-the-counter cough and cold formulas really help or not has shown not only that they don't help to relieve cold symptoms in children, they can also cause serious side-effects such as seizures. This has led to efforts by family doctors and pediatricians to let parents know this and to use more supportive home treatment than over-the-counter medicines.

On the other hand, this has led drug companies to respond in unfortunately predictable ways. This story explains why colchicine (used for decades to relieve or prevent severe gout pain) went suddenly from 10 cents/pill to $5/pill.

It is also probably why you can't get quinine pills for leg cramps anymore. It was never actually tested for any condition but malaria. My guess is that the companies that make it don't want to go through the trouble and expense of testing it for leg cramps and simply withdrew it.

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