A taste of what life will be like with 'prescription' dietary supplements

Steve - the FDA accorded an approval based on a company-sponsored clinical study showing that fish oil lowers triglyceride levels. With prescription drug status, this company, Omacor, is now free to make specific health claims about fish oil and aggressively sell it through cardiologists and any other doctors prescription. If their marketing efforts are successful, Omacor stands to earn tremendous amounts of money.

The actual price per prescription we've seen is $144.77 (120 softgels). That is roughly 750% more than what the same amount of fish oil sells for in a health food store. It is only 10% stronger in EPA than a store bought product. The company selling this prescription fish oil drug knew that some consumers might question why they should pay such a high price. In their marketing materials, the company tries to differentiate their fish oil drug from what is available in health food stores by stating that "Fish oil sold in health food stores is no substitute for prescription fish oil, because they are not bioequivalent." Laughable.

One of the added ingredients in this product is partially hydrogenated soybean oil, a trans fat. Wonderful, huh?

Those with health insurance may find that their co-pay may still be higher than what they could freely pay for fish oil supplements. That is to say nothing of how much health insurance premiums could increase if too many patients use this overpriced fish oil drug.

Big Pharma and their political lobbies are fighting hard to make dietary supplements prescription. As we see with the Omacor example, the results could be disastrous.