this is "nightline." tonight, sticker shock at the pharmacy. >> i'm stunned. i'm absolutely stunned. >> reporter: what's fuelling the skyrocketing price of many generic drugs and many americans forced to break the law to stay alive. adrenaline rush. it's one of the hottest thrills here at home but in china ziplines have been a lifeline for generations. why now they are slowly disappearing from the chinese countryside. and digital slight of hand. you will meet the man behind the magic vines. how this guy turned a hobby in to an on-line empire dazzling more than 3 million followers.

are some of these stunts as dangerous as they appear? but first the "nightline" five. >> when salon pas ge best gan in 1934 a single patch created a category of pain relief. 80 years later, it has evolved in to a family of pain relievers. perfect for back muscle or joint release. perfect for relief. >> get more rewards the more you spend. use macy's money on top of sale prices. the more you buy the more macy's money you get. shop in store through sunday.

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greed are raking in huge profits while regular americans suffer. this has to do with the medicine many of us need to survive, and prices that are skyrocketing. not by 100% or 200% but sometimes by 3,000% even 6,000%. so what's going on here? abc's gloria riveria investigates. >> i'm calling to check the price on a medication, please. >> reporter: trishcia is calling pharmacy. >> since she last checked her pain medication has gone up. >> i'm stunned. absolutely stunned. that's way more. >> reporter: gone up again. >> i thought 25 was a lot. 37 is -- what is this stuff made out of. i mean -- >> reporter: tricia was only 18 when she first found the crippling pain that would come to define her adult life. >> there was no cure for it. there was no relief from it.

>> reporter: she was diagnosed with endometriosis, a chronic disease where the lining of the uterus growing outside of the womb and causes legislations that can worns over time. >> i liken it to moms that have a screaming child on their hip and they are trying to have a conversation here with somebody but you have a screaming baby on your hip. you can't always focus on this thing in front of you. >> reporter: her husband vincent said he feels helpless watching her suffer every day. >> i'm a fixer. i can't fix her. and to not be able to help her just tears me apart. >> if it wasn't for the pain medication i wouldn't be here. >> reporter: tricia started taking fentanyl citrate the generic version actiq, a powerful pain killer in 2010. she takes three doses a day.

back then she said she paid 50 cents a dose and today $30 a dose. an increase of 6,000%. >> what changed in the formula the manufacturing, what changed that justified such a cost increase? >> reporter: these are questions asked across the country as patients and pharmacists report alarming increases in the prices of certain jenner in i drug -- generic drugs. >> in 15 years i have never seen a price increase like this. >> reporter: in the span of one year blood pressure medication captopril jumped 2700%. >> the prices are ridiculous. they are like i can't afford this. i have to feed my children and they walk away. >> reporter: generics have served to make drugs affordable. now americans are asking why

prices are trending the other way. raw material shortages, manufacturing disruptions, due to factory closings or violations. companies that leave the market or merge with competitors. it all reduces supply and competition n. a statement the chief executive of the genericic pharmaceutical association said some may occur for individual producting unique circumstances. >> by the big red barn in the great greenfield. >> reporter: hani hamden said he had to break the law to afford the meds he needed. >> this is a big red barn. >> reporter: a dentist from jordan he had to look overseas when doctors prescribed him a drug which was $5.92 a dose in 2010 rang up at $119. >> it shocked me as being

expensive. my deductible was very high. over $12,000. so i would have probably had to pay the entire amount. >> reporter: so he turned to relatives abroad to help him find a cheaper version of the drug. he said it was surprisingly easy. >> they found it for, close to $100 for a three-month supply. just $100 compared to for three months it would have been 15,000. i'm fortunate to have somebody who lives overseas that can send me the drug. i know most people don't have that privilege. >> i started taking money out of my i.r.a. and that's how we had to pay for it. >> reporter: and now, three years and $80,000 later, the saleses are struggling to keep their nest egg. >> savings is running out really fast really fast. >> it has taken a toll on our marriage. it has taken a toll on our

plans. we planned to sail around the world. you know that's gone. it can't happen. >> reporter: we asked mallinckrodt, the drug maker who makes the painkiller and they tell abc news that pricing has remained stable since 2010 and do not comment further specifically on pricing matters. >> it's nice for pridoviders to know why drugs are going up and what ones. >> the chief resident of internal medicine at regents hospital in saint paul, minnesota, and a co-author of a new england journal of medicine article that brought the issue to light. >> you get outraged. i think as the health care system as a society we need systems in place that help to combat what is happening. >> what's the one thing that has to change for this problem to be solved? >> we have to tell the drug companies they can't get away with murder, and can't raise

their prices to any level they want. >> reporter: last week senator sanders introduced a bill aimed at curbing jen generic price drug prices. >> you can't force folks to be in a situation where they can't purchase the medicine they need. that's what we should be doing. >> reporter: tricia started a new job with a technology company. she's waiting to hear if her new insurance will cover her much-needed pain medication. >> i don't know what else to do. i'm praying, praying that my new insurance will cover it. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm gloria riveria in washington. >> our thanks to gloria for that report. how much are you paying a month for your prescription drugs? share your thoughts with us on our facebook page. coming up next hear what maybe the craziest commute on earth. why this 90-year-old does it every day. and later the man who's built an empire on six-second viral videos. if you're an adult with type 2 diabetes and your a1c is not at goal

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you may think your daily commute is stressful. what if your only option was to whiz along a high wire dangling over a massive canyon? this is for real. check out what abc's bob woodruff found one remote corner of china. >> reporter: deep between the mountains of southwestern china, there's something different -- imagine this as your daily commute. for untold generations, this was the only way to cross the nujiang river. but in this new era of high speed trains and choking pollution, these ziplines are disappearing. to see the last of them we decided to journey to the remotest parts of nujiang. the last free flowing river in asia that carves from the tibetan plateau, china, myanmar and thailand before emptying in to the andaman sea. this is a part of china i've

never seen before. this is called nujiang, which means the first bend of the new river. it's the most amazingly beautiful place i have ever seen. as we pass bridges and towns, ziplines were actually hard to find. on our journey to discover them taking a bath in the springs and others showed me their cross bow. >> first shot ever. bull's eye. these guys love me. >> reporter: the nujiang cuts so deep this area is sometimes known as china's grand canyon. it's getting more and more remote. >> reporter: which presents the farmers here with a challenge crossing the river. when you ask them about ziplines -- when is the last time you used it, though? many point the bridges. many told us they used to take

the ziplines back and forth but now they use the bridge now. old and new ones. the ziplines are a deep tradition here. at this lunch spot we found this old movie playing on their hdtv. >> the casting for the movie which is called "zipline doctor." that's three times in a row the last ten minutes of the movie. as we go deeper in the canyons, along the narrowing dirt roads, fewer and fewer people and suddenly -- we hear it. villager, after villager suddenly arriving from across the nujiang. qiu maqian of course she doesn't speak a word with of mandarin, so we recruit someone from a younger generation to translate. how old are you now she has been crossing the zipline since the

1930s. >> she's 90. >> you have been doing this since you were 10 years old. was it always metal? or bamboo. >> they were bamboo until the 1970s. the only breaks, this no one has been hurt not even on the bamboo. never she says. my dream is when i turn 90 years old, i want to do the same thing. this zipline was built by the government but even now the harnesses are makeshift and homemade. it is not exactly something you can buy at the stores. not only do they use it to get to work or shop. they also take their kids to school. this mom told us her son will not be allowed to cross the river alone until he is 10.

our translator 17 years old and invites us across the river to see how he lives. >> tell her i have a bad knee though. >> reporter: and the villages offer to give us a ride. okay. here it goes. oh my gosh. this is beautiful! i was really nervous when i started to prepare for it. once i held on to it and knew i wasn't going to fall down it was pretty good. once you start moving, best thing. not to be outdone, these courageous older, strong e women join in on the fun. who like the grandmothers before him, grew up here. you live in a beautiful, bufrl

place here. he may be part of the last generation of zipliners. is it changing too fast? big changes, he says. when he was in primary school this road wasn't there and now connects his village with a distant bridge. for now the zipline is still the fastest way to get to the other side to get supplies jobs and school. however, even more change is coming. china's government is planning on building at least four new hydro electrical dams on the untouched river, although environmental advocates have fought it. is that good or bad? is your life better or worse because of the changes. better he says because they have transportation now so they don't have to walk for miles up hill to haul food and equipment. do you think your child when you have one, do you think your kids could ride the zipline, or do you think it will be gone by

then. he says they will be gone. does that make you sad? a little bit, he says. as for grandma she says she's going to enjoy this ride for as long as she can. unbelievable. 90 years old. i don't think my grandmother has ever done this. ready? i'm bob woodruff for "nightline," soaring above the river of nujiang in yunnan province china. up next he's got only six seconds to make magic. the internet star and his blink and you'll miss them stunts. is is my body of proof. proof of less joint pain. and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis from the inside out... with humira. humira works by targeting and helping

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finally tonight, in an era of ever declining attention spans, you are going to meet the man who built an internet empire on six-second viral videos. here's abc's rachel smith. >> reporter: don't blink. or you'll miss the magic. zach king doesn't need long to impress. his six-second videos, 3.2 million followers asking how does he do that? >> sometimes just simple jump cuts and i'll freeze them and come over and change my clothes and whatever. >> reporter: invisible string and optical illusions create the effects as well as a lot of work by zach and his team. >> usually it extends to four or

five hours to shoot and edit that video. >> reporter: he uses tricks to turn a hobby in to an empire. >> photo bombing ryan. >> reporter: collaborating with rappers and plenty of big brands. his talents even taking him to the red carpet of the oscars. >> one of my favorites that you did is there are two beds and you jump from one 0 the other -- >> that's my personal favorite. >> get out, really? >> reporter: we got a behind the scenes look at what goes in to making these videos. >> the concept is to take this angry bird and put it on the branch and i will throw it and it will be a red sweater. >> reporter: sometimes the stunts really as dangerous as they seem. >> i did one where i fell off the roof. it was a tile roof where it could slide. >> living on the edge. >> do not try at home. >> reporter: totally. for him, the chance to make magic is worth the risk.

for "nightline," i'm rachel smith in california. >> our thanks to rachel smith for that story and our thanks for watching us more than six seconds tonight. tune in to "gma" first thing in the morning where ed sheeran will make an appearance. ♪ that's tomorrow on "gma." as always we're on-line 24/7 at abcnews.com. thank you again for watching and have a great night.

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first contestant has a very unusual way of saying "hello." i'm not gonna lie. i'm a little bit nervous. but let's bring her out. from midvale, utah please welcome jan brownstein. [cheers and applause] hi, jan. how are you? >> hi, how are you? i'm well. >> okay. okay. okay, what was the-- where is the-- i'm nervous. i mean, what happened to the greeting--unusual way of-- >> well, you have to wait for it. >> okay. what--what-- >> okay, so you know in the world of germs and sanitation and all those things... >> okay. >> i have a new way of saying "hello," and every single time i win money, you're gonna bow-bump me. and i made this one up just for you. are you ready? >> a bow bump? >> get them out. we're gonna go boom, boom, boom. >> [laughs] i like that. you know what-- so you get no germs. you get nothing. it's just all-- but what if my elbows are ashy? they get ashy really bad. >> you put lotion on them. >> a little lotion on them. >> there you go. >> b-b--[laughs]