Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I saw a Lovaza commercial and decided to Google it. I found this link.

Lovaza is selling fish oil (The Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA) as a prescription drug (to lower triglyceride levels in the blood) for many times the actual cost of fish oil supplements. It is not legal to market nutritional supplements as prescription drugs, but somehow Lovaza has managed to get around this. Their fish oil is "purified and concentrated". Well, the fish oil supplements I have are also purified to eliminate mercury so I don't see how that is special.

Big Pharma greed....taking advantage of people.

What does Lovaza cost? In Milwaukee, it costs about $70 per capsule per month (PCPM). Most people are taking four capsules per day: $280 per month, or $3360 per year to obtain 3360 mg of EPA + DHA per day. (Funny coincidence with the numbers.)

Did you catch that? $3360 per year, just for one person to take Lovaza.

What if I instead went to Costco and bought their high-potency fish oil. This is also an ethyl ester form. It costs $14.99 for 180 capsules, or $2.50 PCPM; each capsule contains 684 mg EPA + DHA. I would therefore have to take five capsules per day to obtain the same 3360 mg EPA + DHA per day. This would cost me 5 x $2.50 = $12.50 per month, or $150 per year.

flag	asked Jul 16 2010 at 7:20 Stancel 3,149●3●12●23

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Classic Big Pharma. – Karen Jul 16 2010 at 12:22

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Classic Big Government. – Ed♦ Jul 16 2010 at 12:26

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Nice work! Thanks for bringing notice to it! – gilliebean♦ Jul 16 2010 at 16:19

Take it easy on the government, it's where your friends and neighbors work. Are you really for no NIH? Budget slashed already, and under further assault. How many papers get posted on this site. The return on your tax dollar is actually quite astounding. Not to say you don't always try to improve. Libertarianism is generally Fakism, because when sh_t goes down, everybody calls the government. – Jim B Jun 14 2012 at 13:20

andrew · Answer 1 · 2010-07-16 07:33:58Z UTC

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This is immoral and ought surely to be illegal? Is it the first step to big business managing to get our cheap supplements banned so they can cream off all the profits?

answered Jul 16 2010 at 7:33

andrew
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Agreed, this is riding the tide of nutritionism; omega 3 supplementation is all the rage, so the biggies can step in, advertise hard, get FDA approval for selling loads of prescription through various busy docs that just push pills out when customers ask for it...... sheep. Big time marketing of reservitrol, anti oxidants, omega 3, etc are all coming on strong, magic bullets by the bottle. – Tim Rangitsch Jul 16 2010 at 13:57

Eva · Answer 2 · 2010-07-16 16:20:09Z UTC

Now it may be easier to get insurance to cover the fish oil if it is prescribed. However, I'd look into if wild caught salmon are used, how much DHA is in each dose, etc. It may well be that some over the counter products are superior and less expensive. I have seen that Lovasa commercial myself and thought it amusing. Ironically, one warning in the commercial is that it "may cause LDL cholesterol to rise." (not that I particularly think that that nondirect measured LDL scores are as important as they would have you think) -Eva

grrleigh · Answer 3 · 2011-06-20 17:54:46Z UTC

My mother was actually a pharmaceutical sales rep for Lovaza before she was unceremoniously laid off by Glaxo after their diabetes medicine fiasco. She always said the product was great, and I'm pretty sure you can get it for way less on insurance, but I always wondered if there truly was any difference besides the "purification" process resulting in "reduced fishy burp" (seriously). However, Glaxo/GSK is a terrible, terrible company and they will never get a dime from me as long as I live, if I can help it. I get the jumbo value size fish oil on sale at Target and it does the trick.

fish · Answer 4 · 2012-06-14 06:31:24Z UTC

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you guys are goobers!!! i just 360 lovaza pills (a ninety day supply) for 30 dollars at my parmacy because my insurance covers it as it is concidered preventative.

i like it because its cheap, it works and has the best quality control

answered Jun 14 2012 at 6:31

fish
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I take NN Ultimate Omega, and would switch to Lovaza if the $ played out right with insurance. I have little doubt the quality of Lovaza is superior. I suspect, perhaps incorrectly, that supplement buyers are generally not the types to test/sue - they're just too giddy about it - while pharmaceutical buyers love to sue. – Jim B Jun 14 2012 at 13:14

Sal · Answer 5 · 2010-07-16 16:17:11Z UTC

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but if its covered by your insurance isnt it way cheaper for you?

answered Jul 16 2010 at 16:17

Sal
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new-man · Answer 6 · 2011-06-20 16:12:14Z UTC

*LOVAZA IS A SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!*Any kind of fish oil can lower triglycerides but only Lovaza has been subjected to rigorous clinical testing.this synthetic fish oil is less effective than regular fish oil. Lovaza is made by boiling the fish oil with alcohol to make a shelf-stable form of omega-3 known as fish oil esters, it is also less available to the body because the intestine has to process the esters into their constituent fatty acids before the body can use them.

sounds like there trying to make money off nutritional supplements but they cant so there now makeing them in to prescription drugs

Fred B · Answer 7 · 2011-06-20 17:54:55Z UTC

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I read about Lovaza on Dr. Davis' blog awhile back: http://www.trackyourplaque.com/blog/2010/07/no-more-lovaza.html

answered Jun 20 2011 at 17:54

Fred B
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E.R. · Answer 8 · 2013-05-03 21:24:34Z UTC

Folks, it's very simple... our health is in the hands of greedy Big Pharma executives and the even more corrupt FDA. These two are in bed together. It's all a big conspiracy, to say the least. When it comes to taking care of our health we are better off taking matters in our own hands and becoming more informed so that we make better decisions.

Have you heard of the Lovaza scam?

8 Answers