Ripped off for Prescribed Medicines

daithip

Will try and keep this short but completely bemused with it. Member of family diagnosed with ailment which requires 4 months of a strong antibiotic. Went to the local pharmacy paid €42 for one weeks supply. Lucky enough to be living close to N Ireland and decided to check out same product in northern pharmacy.... €5 for the same thing :eek:. Fair enough €10/€15 either way can happen but this is unbelievable and as the product is made in Clonmel in Co. Tipperary for sale in both pharmacies just can't get my head around it. Is this a price fixing scam or am I missing something.

L1011

Combination of distributor gouging and the IMB charging so much to licence generics. If the 42 was the cheapest price from an ROI pharmacy, the pharmacy in NI is likely making the same or higher profit margin (%, not total amount) than the ROI one.

You do get the odd pharmacy still charging a 50% markup and fees on top but they are very rare - its imperative to shop around.

delahuntv

That's a very unusual difference - if anything, prices are lower here for many prescriptions with the recent changes. Hay Fever spray Avamys is half the price here than UK.

But many drugs are massively subsudised in NI (even more so than rest of UK) and use of prescrition drugs in NI is one fo the higehst in the world.

They are proposing to change it with a £3 charge + review of subsidy, as they estimate its wasting about £200m every year

palmcut

daithip wrote: »

Will try and keep this short but completely bemused with it. Member of family diagnosed with ailment which requires 4 months of a strong antibiotic. Went to the local pharmacy paid €42 for one weeks supply. Lucky enough to be living close to N Ireland and decided to check out same product in northern pharmacy.... €5 for the same thing :eek:. Fair enough €10/€15 either way can happen but this is unbelievable and as the product is made in Clonmel in Co. Tipperary for sale in both pharmacies just can't get my head around it. Is this a price fixing scam or am I missing something.

Any idea of the drug name and amount?

daithip

Trimethoprim 100ml

nagel

have seen the same here a friend paid €70 odd on a prescription I checked the price with an uk online pharmacy and they were £13.50
would have paid to have made the trip up nor,

palmcut

daithip wrote: »

Trimethoprim 100ml

The drug in this antibiotic is called Trimethoprim. The Brand name is called Monotrim.The brand Monotrim is manufactured by Chemidex Pharma Ltd., in Surrey in the UK.The price charged here in the South is consistent with the cost price Monotrim here.However there is an Unlicensed version of Trimethoprim available here.The unlicensed version is much better value than the licensed version. (this is really unusual as normally the unlicensed versions are much more expensive)You might ask your local pharmacist if she/he can get the unlicensed version for you.Normally the unlicensed version takes a few days to get because the regulator does not allow pharmacies to stock unlicensed meds without a current valid prescription.The unlicensed version should retail to you around 17 euros per 100ml bottle.if you were getting more the net price would drop.in addition the pharmacist would have to check to see if the prescriber is prepared to allow the pharmacy to dispense the unlicensed medicine.(in simple terms unlicensed means that the prescriber is taking full responsibility for the medicine and is absolving the supplier and manufacturer of any potential liability)I hope this helps in some way.

delahuntv

One major cost here is the fact that every drug has to go under seperate regualtiory approval for sale in Ireland - even if it has approval in the UK and other countries.

As the population is is circa 4.6m, the cost of approval is spread amongst a much smaller market base.

I think there was talk recently of this separate approval being put aside and to allow drugs with UK aproval sell here, but not sure if anythign has happened on that front.

nailer54321

Moral of the story is to shop around, like everything else you need to query the price if it is different to what you usually get charged. From experience I know the price of certain prescription drugs , went to get prescription filled in a pharmacy not my local one and was asked for an extra 10euro for the same drugs, I questioned this and explained the price I usually get charged and they matched that price without any hassle. Pharmacist has over head depending on where the are but this was a 25percent difference which I found excessive. Anyway , always question the price with the pharmacist if the price is excessive and as I found they should price match your regular pharmacist, if the don't walk away and get it were it is cheaper,

sandra06

i get a regular prescripition once a month in the big shop that called after something you can put on your feet not shoes but xxxxx,any way they charge nearly 5 euro more for the jermeric tablet went to loads of different chemist and get the real tablets and they vary in prices but usually only a euro so i dont mind that ehat annoys me is th larger chemist is chargering a lot more for the jeneric tablets bought the real one in this big shop and they tried to tell me there 10euro more didt know youneed to tell the price u pay in other chenists made a dissusion to leave and not pay there price:D

VincePP

sandra06 wrote: »

i get a regular prescripition once a month in the big shop that called after something you can put on your feet not shoes but xxxxx,any way they charge nearly 5 euro more for the jermeric tablet went to loads of different chemist and get the real tablets and they vary in prices but usually only a euro so i dont mind that ehat annoys me is th larger chemist is chargering a lot more for the jeneric tablets bought the real one in this big shop and they tried to tell me there 10euro more didt know youneed to tell the price u pay in other chenists made a dissusion to leave and not pay there price:D

What are jermeric tablets? I can't find them listed on IMB website as a medicine.

sandra06

sorry my spelling is terrible ,,,i meant when you get the cheaper version like nurefen but you can buy ibofren a lot cheaper thats what i meant by generic:rolleyes:

VincePP

sandra06 wrote: »

sorry my spelling is terrible ,,,i meant when you get the cheaper version like nurefen but you can buy ibofren a lot cheaper thats what i meant by generic:rolleyes:

ah - I was wondering why i couldn't see it on the lists.

Different paharmacies have different pricing models.

Some charge cost price for medicine and add a €6 - €8 prescription charge, others simply mark up medicines by 50%. (which is low by standard retail practices - fashion shops will mark up by 120% - 150%)

So low price medicines will be dearer in places that charges a prescription fee, but higher price medicines can be quite a bit cheaper.

So it really depends on what suits your prescriptions rather than being a rip off.

btw generic medicines are IDENTICAL to what you call the "real" medicine. If I needed a presecription I'd choose generic everytime without hesitation.

L1011

Generics are not guaranteed to be cheaper than branded - after the last IPHA price cut a 'helpful' doctor prescribed me the cheapest, going on an outdated medicines file, generic by name.

Brand had been cut by 40% and was cheapest.