Prices on Pharmaceuticals

We are often told that medicines are ridiculously expensive in the US, and that Americans are being gouged by Big Pharma. There may be truth to that, but it is not universally true.

While prices for medical and dental procedures and office visits are remarkably low here, pharmaceuticals are not low-priced at all.

An example – I have an enlarged prostate (benign prostate hyperplasia or BPH) and recently switched medications to treat it. My doctor prescribed Hytrin (2mg). He recommended that I buy only a short-term supply to see how I do with the side effects, so I bought fifteen tabs. I visited a couple pharmacies here and was quoted the same price at both – 1335 pesos ($31.07 at today’s rate, or a bit over $2/tab).

Before I bought more, I asked family in the US to check prices there. Here are the per tablet prices at Walgreens and Costco in Phoenix, compared to the Philippine prices (Philippine pharmacies do not give quantity discounts):

Naturally, I’m most interested in the Costco prices, but the Philippine price is 2.5x even the highest Walgreens price (and more than 20x the lowest Costco price). My guess (only a guess) is that the huge difference is the result of import taxes and (as with just about everything here) lack of competition.