The following is excerpted from a letter from Dr. Julian Whitaker entitled "A Call to Arms":
"Mexicans, Canadians, and Europeans pay less, sometimes much less, for the same prescription drugs that Americans buy. What's going on here?
| Comparison of Drug Prices in U.S. and Europe
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| Drug | Quantity | Potency | U.S. Price | Euro. Price |
| Premarin | 28 | 0.6 mg | $14.98 | $4.25 |
| Synthroid | 50 | 100 mg | $13.84 | $2.95 |
| Coumadin | 25 | 10 mg | $30.25 | $2.85 |
| Prozac | 14 | 20 mg | $36.12 | $18.50 |
| Prilosec | 20 | 28 mg | $109.00 | $39.25 |
| Norvasc | 30 | 5 mg | $44.00 | $8.75 |
| Claritin | 20 | 10 mg | $44.00 | $8.75 |
| Augmentin | 12 | 500 mg | $49.50 | $8.75 |
| Zocor | 28 | 20 mg | $96.99 | $45.00 |
| Paxil | 28 | 30 mg | $63.69 | $43.00 |
| Zestril | 60 | 5 mg | $53.49 | $15.00 |
| Prempro | 28 | 0.6 mg | $23.49 | $4.75 |
| Glucophage | 50 | 850 mg | $54.49 | $4.50 |
| Cipro | 20 | 500 mg | $87.99 | $62.75 |
| Zoloft | 100 | 50 mg | $80.00 | $65.00 |
| Pravachol | 28 | 10 mg | $55.60 | $31.00 |
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"[The U.S. public's] expenditures for prescription drugs have increased two to three times as fast as all other aspects of health care...
"..[the U.S. public's] drug costs are escalating at four times the rate of inflation...
"HMOs and insurers now pay more for drugs [in the U.S.] than hospitalizations!"
Pharmaceutical companies have managed to avoid having to compete in the free market in the U.S. "They get tax breaks that make other industries green with envy."
"..the pharmaceutical giants have a long, incestuous, and corrupt relationship with the FDA, the regulatory agency that oversees them." What they have, in essence, is "protected monopoly" status.
"And American consumers foot the bill by paying two to 10 times as much as the rest of the world for the same drugs!"
In addition, "for every dollar spent on research.. the pharmaceutical industry spends 50 cents on advertising and promotion.
Drug companies also argue that they save lives. They don't mention that "upwards of 200,000 Americans die each year from the adverse effects of prescription drugs used as directed.."