Have you seen the price of test strips on ebay?

[joelcam]

Hi all,

Just an observation...

Was on ebay the other night and stumbled across 50 test strips that had been bid up to £12 (the brand I use)...not massive sums of money but I have 2 thoughts..

1) I get mine on prescription so why on earth would anyone pay in excess of £10 for them. I am sure there is a logical reason that I am missing?

2) How many people must be selling on their own prescriptions?? Surely this is morally wrong. How could someone take advantage of their own chronic illness in such a way?

JC

 

[Celtic.Piskie]

1) Some doctors don't prescribe them for type 2's on diet / pills only.
They think that worrying over the numbers will make it worse.

2) Yes. It's also illegal, as well as morally wrong.

 

[Debloubed]

Heavens above - would people with prescriptions who can get 'free' strips, really sell them on? JC, are you sure it wasn't a rep of some kind, perhaps one who (hopefully!) works for a medical company of sorts?

Shocking.

 

[Celtic.Piskie]

Medical reps would very quickly loose their job if they did that.
Also, they're never given full tubs, usally just the test ones, i.e maybe 20.

If they're absolutely all reps, then there are far too many in this county...
It's people.

 

[Debloubed]

good point, I recall a rep I saw at my Diabetes clinic, she had all kinds of 'kit' test strips etc, but thinking about it, they were in bottles labelled 'test' etc, so I guess they take precautions.

 

[hanadr]

I have bought on ebay, but Abbott gives me such a good deal, with no postage charge, I only buy from them. My doctor will only give me a prescription if I'm ill, which is rare. I did once buy some that had the marks where the dispensary labels had been torn off. I was shocked and angry. Unfortunately, even with batch numbers, they are not traceable. It's not only immoral, but illegal to do this.

 

[ham79]

people who use steroids use them to keep an eye on their bloods.

 

[Debloubed]

people who use steroids use them to keep an eye on their bloods.

another good point! Guess it's not just 'us lot' who have a use for them.....

 

[joelcam]

Glad to know that I am not the only 1 that finds this whole thing a bit disgusting....

It would be great if ebay could better manage the use of items that have a medical use....not sure how they could do this but to think of someone exploiting diabetes in such a way makes me really annoyed....

So GP's don't give them to type 2's as worrying over numbers makes them worse...so what do they do? - Worry about who they are buying them off on Ebay and if they will arrive AND then worry about the numbers.....!!

Then again, with all of the "We can give you a free meter" pop-ups I get whenever I am on a diabetes web-site I often feel as though I am being exploited anyway....it is wrapped up in a "We care about you, look what our meter does for you"...but the reality is that they are making a lot of money each time someone switches to one of their meters. I wonder how much of their profits are pumped back into trying to find a cure for diabetes? If I owned a company that sold petrol for cars, I'd hardly invest a lot of my money and time into creating a vehicle that no longer used petrol.....

Any thoughts?

 

[Debloubed]

Hmmm, it's such an interesting topic - all the 'gear' we have to use must cost the NHS a packet, but they just don't make it easy for us to get at it, do they? Even as a long term type 1, I can't get my GP to increase my prescription quantity to decrease my visits to the pharmacy - ok, so I can make my life a bit easier by speaking with the pharmacy and they collect the prescription etc and I have permanant refills but I can't get any more than x6 boxes of strips at one time, which last me approx 4 weeks................so for those who can't even get the strips on a 'script, you can hardly blame them for trying to buy them elsewhere really?

As for putting money back into Diabetes care or research, I wonder if their websites say anything? Wish I'd asked the rep I saw now :wink:

 

[joelcam]

Thanks for your reply singlebed...

I'm joking - just cracked me up when someone referred to you as Doublebed the other day...

I cannot believe how many different types of meters and strips there are, all claiming to be the best in their own way...I especially love the pen shaped thin meters that they say are 'discreet'. I can just imagine a non diabetic thinking it is completely normal for someone to whip out what looks like a pregnant biro and hold it to the tip of your bleeding finger before you tuck into your wholemeal sarnie!!

It's just not something you can make cool! I am not embarrassed or ashamed in any way shape or form but come on, don't try and make out everyone will want one..."Be the envy of your non diabetic friends with out new meter and lancing device, they will soon wish they had to prick themselves 7 times a day". What next? Maybe "Try our new insulin pen, it's actually an oversized parker pen that also takes ink cartridges and looks really cool. Everyone in your office will want one. At least until they see you inject yourself with black ink and grow 8 arms".

JC

 

[Debloubed]

* Job for today * - design a pen which looks like a lip gloss!! If you come up with that, I won't complain if you call me Singlebed :lol:

Pens and meters are definitely un-cool as far as the way they look (pretty vital though, so I won't complain toooooooo much!) Having said that, I was very jealous when the rep I saw handed out some new kit to everyone on the room, and I missed out on the last silver meter! It's all about colour co-ordination for me, so I had to settle for the next best one, which was pink :lol:

 

[joelcam]

Ha ha - Fair enough, maybe girls have different requirements...

I'd need something that was more manly then...maybe one that doubled-up as a screwdriver....what about a really small one? (A meter that is!)...one that could fit on your key ring, like one of those trolley coins....pin prick one end and a place to put a strip on the other end...that would rock...if it was coin shaped and doubled up as a useful coin for trolleys then even better....but that would be impossible..

A lip gloss one would work though...could be quite easy I reckon...

Maybe I should start a new thread about what other uses would be handy on a meter...

JC

 

[Debloubed]

do it! bound to be a (bored) designer/engineer type on here who needs something to do at the weekends as long as they plough some of their profits from their ground breaking, screw driver which doubles as a trolley coin which also fits on your keyring, then there is nothing to lose :lol: :lol:

 

[steveamos1234]

It’s surprising how much they cost. Many years ago when I changed to the Acensia test strips my GP complained about the cost, but at the time he was very good in that he showed me how much they paid so we could compare the costs. Can't remember the numbers, but most of the strips were priced within a few pence of each other.

Must be a great margin on them for the manufacturers though.

I currently 5 boxes on perscription every month. They complain once or twice a year but I remind that I would cost a lot more if didn't test.

 

[graham64]

I buy off ebay with no problems I've never seen any evidence of pharmacy labels on the products I've bought, my last purchase was for 10x51 packs of Accu Chek strips for £82 including postage. Thats a potential saving of £168 if I bought over the counter, which for me as an OAP is I can assure you is a lot of money. As for the moral aspect that surely lies at the feet of the strip manufacturers seeing we are charged double what the NHS pay for them, and they will still make a decent profit. I'll exempt Abbot from this criticism you can buy direct from them at about £15 a pot.

Graham

 

[Celtic.Piskie]

They're a business.... not a charity.

The strips are incredibly expensive and hard to make. The blame lies solely on the NHS dor not prescribing them to peope who need them.
There isn't really much of a margin on them. They reqire incredibly sterile conditions to make, which is very expensive to set up and maintain, and they require sterile components and chemicals.

They just are that much to produce.
How are they supposed to come up with better, mre functional, less pinful meters unless they have the money to put into R&D?

 

[timo2]

That's a pretty good deal on the Accu Chek, Graham. You should go into business on Ebay.

Check out this entry on "evergreening" from Scott Strumello's excellent blog. There's an estimated 900% markup on the manufacturing cost of test strips. :shock:

http://sstrumello.blogspot.com/search?q=evergreening

Stay out of trouble,
timo.

 

[nuway2health]

Hi

I too checked ebay yesterday for the strips I use and they are nearly £25 for 50 strips what a rip off!

I go through 50 in a few days but so far my GP is prescribing them and today I bought an exemption form for 4 months which cost just £9 so that will get me them free now until next March.

Arlene

 

[phoenix]

Check out this entry on "evergreening" from Scott Strumello's excellent blog. There's an estimated 900% markup on the manufacturing cost of test strips.

http://sstrumello.blogspot.com/search?q=evergreening

That sent me on a chase around the internet.

Scott originally got the information from a guest blogger on Amy Tenderich's blog. This is what she said on Tu diabees about it

That's what I've learned from LA Times columnist David Lazarus, who wrote a Guest Post on DiabetesMine.com today: http://www.diabetesmine.com/2009/06/a-y ... the-diab...

When queried on the number, he tells me "That figure was from a column I wrote on the subject a year or so ago. Looks like it costs 10 cents or so to produce each strip. So at a retail price of $1, you have one of the biggest markups in the business world – especially for a product whose R&D costs were covered long ago."

I checked some prices of strips around the world today. I chose a sort of middle price as it got too difficult to compare exact strips. Price for 50 strips
US $28 = £16.89
France €19.70 = £17.80
Germany € 24
India 1599 rs =£20.91
UK £ 25.50
So in the US the mark up is not as dramatic as suggested (price about 56cents a strip not a dollar) but is still high. The British price though is higher than I found anywhere else.
.