Tesco Pharmacy 30% Cheaper

brian ireland

I was in Tesco today and I heard an ad on the in store radio. They where advertising cheap chloestral tablets. I pay €30 for 30 every month. They are €18.99 for 28. Great saving over a year.

robertpatterson

Ive already got cholesterol i dont need to buy any more thanks:P

Ernest

Tesco have Pharmacies in Republic of Ireland now?
What branch was this?

uck51js9zml2yt

The saving is due to the branded product Lipitor being out of patent.

Pharmacys are now able to sell a generic form of it.

The bargain would be if its 30% cheaper than the equivalent in your local pharmacy.

partyatmygaff

That's right.

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) came out of patent this month and generics will be out on the market next month. It's nothing specific to Tesco.

brian ireland

Eileen Thankful Weakling wrote: »

The saving is due to the branded product Lipitor being out of patent.

Pharmacys are now able to sell a generic form of it.

The bargain would be if its 30% cheaper than the equivalent in your local pharmacy.

partyatmygaff wrote: »

That's right.

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) came out of patent this month and generics will be out on the market next month. It's nothing specific to Tesco.

Don't want to get into an argument over this as I don't know too much about it but i am taking Pavastatin not Lipitor and these are cheaper in Tesco than Hickeys. If its not a money saver for you so be it. My normal chemist did not offer me them for €19 the Last few months so Tesco @ €19 is a real Bargain Alert,

partyatmygaff

Well in that case, it does appear to be a bit cheaper. Is there any difference in brand? The only plausible explanation for the €12 difference is that Hickeys are giving you the branded drug whereas Tesco are giving you a generic. There's no difference in drug but there is a difference in price.

jayteecork

Brian have you tried cutting out fatty foods, and hitting the gym instead of knocking back these tablets?

doodio

Diet and Exercise are good long term advice, but pharmacological management is needed in many patients. This is a prescribed medication, and done so for a reason.

brian ireland

jayteecork wrote: »

Brian have you tried cutting out fatty foods, and hitting the gym instead of knocking back these tablets?

Familial hypercholesterolaemia. :rolleyes: Am I In Bargain alerts?

SoCo2009

jayteecork wrote: »

Brian have you tried cutting out fatty foods, and hitting the gym instead of knocking back these tablets?

Christ alrighty! :rolleyes:

Nonoperational

partyatmygaff wrote: »

That's right.

Lipitor (Atorvastatin) came out of patent this month and generics will be out on the market next month. It's nothing specific to Tesco.

Atorvastatin generic has been available about 2 weeks now. It's not much cheaper than Lipitor but Lipitor has gone down in price.

brian ireland

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Well in that case, it does appear to be a bit cheaper. Is there any difference in brand? The only plausible explanation for the €12 difference is that Hickeys are giving you the branded drug whereas Tesco are giving you a generic. There's no difference in drug but there is a difference in price.

When I was in Tesco They asked me was I getting a Branded or generic. To be honest I could not answer that and they asked me to ring them back with the name on the box. Its called Pravamel and it turns out its generic. Tesco actually sell Pravamel for €24, so i was told today. I was paying €30 in hickeys

brian ireland

Ernest wrote: »

Tesco have Pharmacies in Republic of Ireland now?
What branch was this?

Balbriggan,

casio4

and Naas

mattjack

Clearwater , Finglas.

wmpdd3

I thought the one in clearwater was owned by a different company and just situated in a tesco?

mattjack

wmpdd3 wrote: »

I thought the one in clearwater was owned by a different company and just situated in a tesco?

I think you might be right, there are two in the shopping complex...one in the Tesco shop and another outside beside the post office.

tk123

mattjack wrote: »

I think you might be right, there are two in the shopping complex...one in the Tesco shop and another outside beside the post office.

They're the same pharmacy/company. Cheapest place for inhalers compared to phibsboro and omni

L1011

mattjack wrote: »

I think you might be right, there are two in the shopping complex...one in the Tesco shop and another outside beside the post office.

Same pharmacy. One in the shop is run as a franchise by the lad outside, its not Tesco

Tesco currently only have pharmacies in Naas, Balbriggan and Portlaoise.

Jesus Wept

brian ireland wrote: »

I was in Tesco today and I heard an ad on the in store radio. They where advertising cheap chloestral tablets. I pay €30 for 30 every month. They are €18.99 for 28. Great saving over a year.

Pharmacies charge a dispensing charge. It will be cheaper to buy in bulk rather than every 30 days if you are able to do so.

L1011

Andy Carroll wrote: »

Pharmacies charge a dispensing charge. It will be cheaper to buy in bulk rather than every 30 days if you are able to do so.

No, they don't.

Private prescriptions are, generally, charged at anywhere from 30% to 50% over the wholesale price, plus VAT if required (oral meds = no VAT).

Dispensing fees apply to state-paid prescriptions, NOT private ones.

The only way getting 90 or 180 days dispensed would be cheaper would be if there were larger, cheaper packs available (rare) and in time/fuel costs.

Oracle

I'm glad to see Tesco offering lower medication prices in their pharmacies. But what's stopping Tesco from offering the same low priced pain relief medication in their Irish stores, as they do in their UK stores?

• 16 Paracetamol 500mg tablets for 15p.
• 16 Aspirin 300mg tablets for 21p.
• 16 Ibuprofen 200mg tablets for 30p.

Nonoperational

MYOB wrote: »

No, they don't.

Private prescriptions are, generally, charged at anywhere from 30% to 50% over the wholesale price, plus VAT if required (oral meds = no VAT).

Dispensing fees apply to state-paid prescriptions, NOT private ones.

The only way getting 90 or 180 days dispensed would be cheaper would be if there were larger, cheaper packs available (rare) and in time/fuel costs.

Completely incorrect there I'm afraid.

Kurtosis

Oracle wrote: »

I'm glad to see Tesco offering lower medication prices in their pharmacies. But what's stopping Tesco from offering the same low priced pain relief medication in their Irish stores, as they do in their UK stores?

• 16 Paracetamol 500mg tablets for 15p.
• 16 Aspirin 300mg tablets for 21p.
• 16 Ibuprofen 200mg tablets for 30p.

They would have to get these products licensed by the Irish Medicines Board in order to sell them here which may not be worth the costs for the size of the market here.

L1011

gpf101 wrote: »

Completely incorrect there I'm afraid.

Explain how. Because that's how pricing (generally) works for private prescriptions.

penguin88 wrote: »

They would have to get these products licensed by the Irish Medicines Board in order to sell them here which may not be worth the costs for the size of the market here.

Generally the own brand medicines sold in Tesco, etc, are made by a very small set of manufacturers (Galpharm being the biggest one) who are likely already approved by the IMB.

Ibuprofen isn't available on general sale here, they should be able to sell the paracetamol and aspirin if they were bothered to.

Kurtosis

MYOB wrote: »

Explain how. Because that's how pricing (generally) works for private prescriptions.

Actually with private prescriptions there is generally a dispensing fee applied each time a prescription item is dispensed.

Generally the own brand medicines sold in Tesco, etc, are made by a very small set of manufacturers (Galpharm being the biggest one) who are likely already approved by the IMB.

Ibuprofen isn't available on general sale here, they should be able to sell the paracetamol and aspirin if they were bothered to.

The products themselves e.g. Tesco paracetamol 12 pack would have to get a product licence from the IMB which costs money. I am sure if it was worth their while they would put these products on the market.

L1011

penguin88 wrote: »

Actually with private prescriptions there is generally a dispensing fee applied each time a prescription item is dispensed.

If a dispensing fee is added per item (which is basically just part of the markup, but with a different name) it again has no impact at all whether you get 1 pack a month or 6 packs every 6 months - the unit price is identical.

I don't know *any* pharmacy in the country that adds a fee to an overall 'sale' of a private prescription, and I've got a rather large amount of them as customers.

penguin88 wrote: »

The products themselves e.g. Tesco paracetamol 12 pack would have to get a product licence from the IMB which costs money. I am sure if it was worth their while they would put these products on the market.

True, there's still significant cost/hassle involved in getting the specific presentation authorised.

Seeing as retailers are able to sell certain things instore in the UK (Lidl/Asda in particular) below what the HSE reimbursement price is here, the IMB authorisation is clearly a major impediment. Last time I checked, Asda (Galpharm-made) loperamide was about a third of the reimbursement price of the cheapest generic here, and that was including 20% VAT in the Asda price. Of course, its not allowed to be sold in shops here to begin with.

Oracle

penguin88 wrote: »

They would have to get these products licensed by the Irish Medicines Board in order to sell them here which may not be worth the costs for the size of the market here.

That could be the reason but its not. The real reason is Tesco and the other supermarkets are being paid by the the big brand manufacturers not to sell these pain reliving products at lower prices.

Thats also why only branded paracetamol like Panadol and Hedex are only available in all the supermarkets. Its also the reason there's no price competition between them either. They all charge €1.65 for 12 tablets. Its a cosy little arrangement thats been going on for years.

Nonoperational

MYOB wrote: »

Explain how. Because that's how pricing (generally) works for private prescriptions.

There is a dispensing fee per item dispensed on a private prescription. However if you get say 6 packs together it's counted as one item and you pay one dispensing fee as opposed to six. So if an item cost + markup is €10 and the fee is €3.5, one month would be €13.50, so that's €81 after six months. If you got the 6 together it would be €63.50.

That's the way its always been as far as I know. Cost + markup then a fee on top per item.

L1011

gpf101 wrote: »

There is a dispensing fee per item dispensed on a private prescription. However if you get say 6 packs together it's counted as one item and you pay one dispensing fee as opposed to six. So if an item cost + markup is €10 and the fee is €3.5, one month would be €13.50, so that's €81 after six months. If you got the 6 together it would be €63.50.

That's the way its always been as far as I know. Cost + markup then a fee on top per item.

That isn't the way our till systems calculate it.

IMightKnow

I worked in one of the big pharmacy chains and from my experience of the pricing there MYOB is totally incorrect and gpf101 is correct.

Also, I take a medication thats roughly 4euro if you buy one month individually or 10euro if you buy 6 months together. No matter where I buy it.

So there is a massive saving for me to buy the 6 months together

Nonoperational

That's the way it is alright... I do enough of them! It's the dispensary software adds the fee per item and gives a final bag price. The tills may not have the breakdown.

L1011

gpf101 wrote: »

That's the way it is alright... I do enough of them! It's the dispensary software adds the fee per item and gives a final bag price. The tills may not have the breakdown.

The tills are fed directly from the dispensary software (seeing as its the same company supplying both).

Different chains may work different ways. The standard as installed on our kit is NOT what you're saying it is. Pricing is editable at-will.

Nonoperational

Well I've worked in over 50 different pharmacies and I've never seen it priced the way you describe.

In a lot places the tills may be linked to the dispensary software but they don't use the link for prescriptions they just manually input the cost of the sale. For a private prescription (not DPS/GMS etc) it's cheaper to buy 6 months than one. Your basically buying 180 tabs as one transaction so there is only one dispensing fee. If you buy 6x30 each month it's 6 dispensing fees. On cheap meds like the pill you could save quite a bit of money doing this.

Unless I've been completely off my game for the past 2.5 years this is the way the vast vast majority of places do it.

There must be a wire crossing somewhere I think!

ceegee

+1 on what gpf said, having locumed for most of the main pharmacy chains, all charge a dispensing fee. The dispensing software allows this to be waived but will always charge it by default (this is certainly the case with the 2 main softwares who have id guess 95% market share between them)

Very few of the chain pharmacys use the same programmes for dispensing and epos

thesandeman

Big thread on above in the ROI Forum.

podgeandrodge

Oracle wrote: »

I'm glad to see Tesco offering lower medication prices in their pharmacies. But what's stopping Tesco from offering the same low priced pain relief medication in their Irish stores, as they do in their UK stores?

• 16 Paracetamol 500mg tablets for 15p.
• 16 Aspirin 300mg tablets for 21p.
• 16 Ibuprofen 200mg tablets for 30p.

I did get I think 16 paracetamols for about 40 cent recently in Tesco Rathfarnham. They were fine.