Society
One drug's selling price has 1,300% markup
By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-05-17 11:38
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A drug that was sold for only 15.5 yuan per bottle at the manufacturing company cost a patient 213 yuan at the hospital, generating a profit of nearly 1,300 percent in the whole selling process, the Beijing News reported Monday.
The patient, a resident of Changsha of Hunan province who has been suffering from ovarian cancer since half a year ago, was suggested by her doctor to buy Lusun Pian for 213 yuan per bottle. She later found out the medicine was sold for 30 yuan per bottle at some drug companies.
The newspaper said the hospital bought the drug at 136 yuan, the guiding price for the medicine in Hunan province, from drug sales representatives who bought them at between 30 and 40 yuan.
Hospitals are allowed to charge patients 15 percent above the guiding price for any kind of medicine, but the Changsha resident's hospital charged her 213 yuan, 56 percent higher than the guiding price, the newspaper said.
