Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) I just did an internet search to check the cheapest supplier for Nexgard (I'm thinking about changing from Advantix to Nexgard)...and there are a few things that puzzles me: for most goods, foods etc. we pay for the amount / volume, and as the drug conc. in the dog depends on its weight, I would expect that the costs for a specific drug (e.g. Afoxolaner in Nexgard) would show some linear dependency according to the dog's weight. however, I can buy the red package (25.1-50kg, 3 pack) Nexgard for $40.97, the green package (10.1-25kg, 3 pack) would cost me $38.74 - hence the double amount of Afoxolaner cost not even $3 more! the '$3 (approx.) difference is also recognizable for the other packages (orange and blue); as it can be assumed that they earn $ with all their packages (no matter which color), the costs for Afoxolaner is obviously only a very small percentage of the sales price; weight, size and therefore transport and storage / handling costs should be nearly the same, independent from the color. based on the math I could buy a red package, cut every chew in 3 parts (for a 17 kg dog), hence would pay $13.66 for the treatment over a 3 month period....or I choose every month a chew from the green package and pay $38.74 for 3 month...what a rip-off!!! Edited: corrected the math regards the 3 month period... Edited November 5, 2015 by Willem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I just did an internet search to check the cheapest supplier for Nexgard (I'm thinking about changing from Advantix to Nexgard)...and there are a few things that puzzles me: for most goods, foods etc. we pay for the amount / volume, and as the drug conc. in the dog depends on its weight, I would expect that the costs for a specific drug (e.g. Afoxolaner in Nexgard) would show some linear dependency according to the dog's weight. however, I can buy the red package (25.1-50kg, 3 pack) Nexgard for $40.97, the green package (10.1-25kg, 3 pack) would cost me $38.74 - hence the double amount of Afoxolaner cost not even $3 more! the '$3 (approx.) difference is also recognizable for the other packages (orange and blue); as it can be assumed that they earn $ with all their packages (no matter which color), the costs for Afoxolaner is obviously only a very small percentage of the sales price; weight, size and therefore transport and storage / handling costs should be nearly the same, independent from the color. based on the math I could buy a red package, cut every chew in 3 parts (for a 17 kg dog), hence would pay $13.66 for the treatment over a 3 month period....or I choose every month a chew from the green package and pay $38.74 for 3 month...what a rip-off!!! Edited: corrected the math regards the 3 month period... Not quite. You can't split the chew in 3's. Your 17kg dog needs a full 10.1-25kg dose. Which is 68.0mg. The XL pack is 136.0mg, that only gives you 2x doses if you were to split it. Unless you want to risk cutting too close to it not working and giving your dog no coverage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) nah, I think it is just a linear dependency...how could they otherwise claim that it works for a 25 kg respectively 50 kg dog....plus they advice for dogs heavier than 50kg: ...'For dogs over 50kg administer the appropriate combination of whole chewables'...if your dog's weight is on the lower end you just heavily overdose, which they can afford as the drug itself is so cheap... ...some light reading here Discovery and mode of action of afoxolaner, a new isoxazoline parasiticide for dogs Edited November 5, 2015 by Willem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 ...the problem might be that the drug is not evenly distributed in the chew... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) You can certainly split a packet of frontline (btw say two 10 kilo dogs in one month) I wouldn't risk it with a chew - and I certainly wouldn't open a blister pack and cut a chew and then leave it open until 'next month' Edited November 5, 2015 by Scottsmum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karly101 Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 So the company that created the drug shouldn't profit from making the drug despite putting $$$s into research and then marketing? Thats the cost you are paying for as the base price. Then also there's the wholesaler and the retailer that need to make money too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 So the company that created the drug shouldn't profit from making the drug despite putting $$$s into research and then marketing? Thats the cost you are paying for as the base price. Then also there's the wholesaler and the retailer that need to make money too. Agreed. I don't really understand the point of the OP? are you saying the prices overall are unreasonable or that the difference between sizes is unreasonable- that smaller dogs should pay significantly less and the price increase between sizes more? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 Obviously "big pharma" is bad and shouldn't be making money on this marvelous new drug. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denali Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) I dont really understand the point of this post either tbh. i have no issues with this. It was a pet peeve of mine that big dog things cost so much more than small dog things when i had larger dogs. Collars and beds etc were all marked up higher than the small dog goods just because they were for large dogs. Also i split comfortis tablets for the dogs each month, however one chew is used in its entirety and nothing sits open in a pack for a month. And the cats get approx 0.37-0.5ml of the large dog revolution dependent on the cat, that i draw out with a syringe. Much cheaper :) Im also lucky enough to get it cost price through work :D Edited November 5, 2015 by denali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denali Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) Actually this reminds me of the nurofen thing, a bit OT but still, it was the same drug in every packet, literally the same tablet, but those marketed for back pain, period pain and headaches were about $2-3 more per packet :laugh: They got in trouble for that one! Edited November 5, 2015 by denali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) So the company that created the drug shouldn't profit from making the drug despite putting $$$s into research and then marketing? Thats the cost you are paying for as the base price. Then also there's the wholesaler and the retailer that need to make money too. Agreed. I don't really understand the point of the OP? are you saying the prices overall are unreasonable or that the difference between sizes is unreasonable- that smaller dogs should pay significantly less and the price increase between sizes more? ...it is like paying the same fuel cost for your car, no matter whether it is a 4WD using 18 l/100 km or a small city car using 5 l/100 km...would be unreasonable, or? Edited November 5, 2015 by Willem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Obviously "big pharma" is bad and shouldn't be making money on this marvelous new drug. ...the 'big pharma' will complain heavily once the licenses will run out and other manufacturers will offer it for a fraction of the price...and the bigger the margin, the earlier this will happen... it is not what I call a 'sustainable business strategy' as it just asks for cheaper competition...as the drug (afoxolaner) is well known and obviously pretty cheap to produce it will happen - hopefully - sooner than later.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 So the company that created the drug shouldn't profit from making the drug despite putting $$$s into research and then marketing? Thats the cost you are paying for as the base price. Then also there's the wholesaler and the retailer that need to make money too. Agreed. I don't really understand the point of the OP? are you saying the prices overall are unreasonable or that the difference between sizes is unreasonable- that smaller dogs should pay significantly less and the price increase between sizes more? ...it is like paying the same fuel cost for your car, no matter whether it is a 4WD using 18 l/100 km or a small city car using 5 l/100 km...would be unreasonable, or? But the prices are different for different sizes. As you identified earlier the cost of the drug itself is probably relatively low. It's the research and development, marketing, packaging, transport etc which is the main bulk of the cost and has nothing to do with size of dog and makes up the base cost of the final product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 .....It was a pet peeve of mine that big dog things cost so much more than small dog things when i had larger dogs. Collars and beds etc were all marked up higher than the small dog goods just because they were for large dogs... ...obviously there are some merits in it that bigger things (pets... houses... cars etc. etc....) cost more...and it should be like this :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willem Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) But the prices are different for different sizes. As you identified earlier the cost of the drug itself is probably relatively low. It's the research and development, marketing, packaging, transport etc which is the main bulk of the cost and has nothing to do with size of dog and makes up the base cost of the final product. ...valid points, but considering that marketing, packaging and transport for similar sized drug packages should be similar: that leaves Nexgard a very big portion just for R&D...I understand that a company want's to get the money they invested in R&D back ASAP, but I wonder why pharma companies actually are quite reluctant to public the real R&D costs...they always use it as an argument for the high drug costs...till someone throws an alternative cheaper product on the market and suddenly they can produce it for the same price or even cheaper and still earn money with it.... Edited November 5, 2015 by Willem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 (edited) They have to get their money for R&D back (and of course make a profit- they are a business not charity after all) in the period where the drug is still under patent. A company that produces a generic doesn't have to do any R&D or very little as that work has already been done by the original company. Edited November 5, 2015 by aussielover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canisbellum Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I think the argument is pointless but I pay around $68 for a 6pack of the 10 to 25kg nexgard so I think you should shop elsewhere then you won't have to worry about the $3 price difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaCC Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 They have to get their money for R&D back (and of course make a profit- they are a business not charity after all) in the period where the drug is still under patent. A company that produces a generic doesn't have to do any R&D or very little as that work has already been done by the original company. Exactly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottsmum Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I think the argument is pointless but I pay around $68 for a 6pack of the 10 to 25kg nexgard so I think you should shop elsewhere then you won't have to worry about the $3 price difference. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denali Posted November 5, 2015 Share Posted November 5, 2015 I think the argument is pointless but I pay around $68 for a 6pack of the 10 to 25kg nexgard so I think you should shop elsewhere then you won't have to worry about the $3 price difference. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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