Price differences in OTC meds

JuliusCaesar

I've had occasion to nip into whatever pharmacy is nearby and have been astonished at price differences. Unfortunately I don't pay enough attention to remember which are the cheap ones

Duphalac - anywhere between €2 and €8
Lamasil - just paid €8.80 for it, I'm sure I've never paid that much before.





(Mods, please move if in wrong forum)

locum-motion

Firstly, there is no 'right' price for OTC meds; each company sets their price according to variables like what they can buy the product for and what they think their local customers are willing to pay. If there was a single price everywhere, then that would be what's called a cartel, and that would be illegal. That being said, there's a sort of 'ballpark' figure that would be reasonable and most pharmacies are probably in or around the same ballpark.

Re: Lamisil. Can't tell you what's "reasonable" unless you tell me exactly which Lamisil product and pack size we're talking about.

Re: Duphalac. Unusual product, because it's one of the few things that is both A) allowed be sold OTC and paid for by the Government for GMS patients. Because of B, the Govt buy most of the Duphalac in the country, like probably 90-95% of it. They get to dictate the price that they will pay for it (they actually changed the law a couple of years ago to allow them to do this). A couple of years ago, a ballpark reasonable amount to pay for 300ml of Duphalac would've been about €4.50 - €4.60, if I recall correctly. Then the Govt reduced the price of it, so now a pharmacy can buy it for less than €2. It is possible to sell it for €2 and make a (small) profit. Personally, I think that pharmacies who made the decision to drop the price all the way down to €2 made a poor decision from a business point of view - there was an established OTC market for the product that was wiling to pay about €4.50 per bottle. Simple economics suggests that if there is an established demand at a particular price, then the price could have been maintained. A pharmacy could have continued to sell it at the same price even though the cost had reduced, and therefore they could have made more profit. However, that would be a bit too mean. When the cost price dropped, I think that pharmacies should have dropped their selling price so as to retain a similar amount of profit per bottle. I'd need to look up figures to calculate exactly what would be reasonable, but I think about €3 should be about right - a meaningful reduction in price for the consumer, and still a meaningful amount of profit for the pharmacy. I believe €2 is an unsustainably low price for a pharmacy to sell this product at.
€8 would have been a very high price, even in the days before the cost price reduction.

JuliusCaesar

Lamasil AT Cream 7.5g @ €8.55 - the basic little tube.

Oh I know pharmacies can charge what they like, just as grocery store can. It's just that I'm used to a ballpark price - some a bit higher, some a bit lower - not the wide variations I've come across.

But I'm in different areas of Dublin - sometimes in the city centre, sometimes in the suburbs inner and outer. It just struck me that I'd really want to ask the price first - and try to remember the cheaper ones.

locum-motion

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Lamasil AT Cream 7.5g @ €8.55 - the basic little tube...

I'll have a look tomorrow.

locum-motion

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Lamasil AT Cream 7.5g @ €8.55 - the basic little tube...

€8.54 here. €8.55 seems reasonable. You mentioned €8.80 in your first post; were you actually charged that somewhere or was it faulty memory?

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D

locum-motion wrote: »

€8.54 here. €8.55 seems reasonable. You mentioned €8.80 in your first post; were you actually charged that somewhere or was it faulty memory?

Pharmacy first has it for £2.78 (XE tells me that is €3.25 which you won't get so we'll bump it to €4), cheaper again if you buy 15g, I've noticed alot of places try to fool their customers here now by actually charging more for the bigger product which were once always cheaper.

Thats over €4.50 cheaper.

Why should people not buy online (bulk buy to offset delivery) or head north?

locum-motion

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote:

Why should people not buy online (bulk buy to offset delivery) or head north?

Well, you shouldn't buy it online because it's illegal for a start. You shouldn't bulk buy because it is not appropriate to use this medicinal product for a long period of time without referring to a doctor - if the product has been used correctly, and the problem hasn't been resolved by the time you've used the tube, then either we're seeing a resistant strain or it wasn't athletes foot to begin with. In either case, a physician must be consulted.

Why not go north? Not everyone lives close enough to the border to make that possible.

locum-motion

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote:

...I've noticed alot of places try to fool their customers here now by actually charging more for the bigger product which were once always cheaper...

Would you care to give an example or are you just going to assert without backing it up that 'alot' (sic) of pharmacies are ripping people off?

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D

locum-motion wrote: »

Well, you shouldn't buy it online because it's illegal for a start.

Is it not prescription only in Ireland?

It'll arrive anyway. People will do it as long as the huge disparity in price continues.

locum-motion wrote: »

You shouldn't bulk buy because it is not appropriate to use this medicinal product for a long period of time without referring to a doctor - if the product has been used correctly, and the problem hasn't been resolved by the time you've used the tube, then either we're seeing a resistant strain or it wasn't athletes foot to begin with. In either case, a physician must be consulted.

Bulk Buy wrong word so, multi-buy all that over the counter stuff that people buy.

locum-motion wrote: »

Would you care to give an example or are you just going to assert without backing it up that 'alot' (sic) of pharmacies are ripping people off?

Dunnes, Pharmacies, it is widespread. It's their business but it is a new low to reverse something like buying the bigger just to profit a few cent.

Fact remains that Item is twice the price in Ireland. 100%. People are not prepared/can't pay that anymore.

And the situation is even worse with prescription medications, I've read recently it's still near 300% more expensive in Ireland for a combination of Atorvastin and Tritace than in Northern Ireland. And even more of a difference in Spain.

If a person was on alot of meds they could fly over and back and probably still save money....and get a bit of sun as well.

I can't see how you can say pharmacys/drug companies are not ripping people off.



Is it legal to post an irish prescription from here to a proper spanish pharmacy and get them to send meds back? Anyone know?

locum-motion

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote: »

Is it not prescription only in Ireland?

If you had properly read the thread, you'd have seen that its title specifies OTC meds, so obviously the product in question is not prescription only in Ireland.

locum-motion

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote: »

Fact remains that Item is twice the price in Ireland. 100%. People are not prepared/can't pay that anymore.

A. The 15g product doesn't exist in the Irish market.
B. The price you quoted is specifically marked as bein a special offer/promotional price, and the usual price is marked as being nearly 7 sterling.
C. Just because something is cheaper from an online pharmacy in another country than it is in a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in this one, that does not mean that the pharmacy is buying it for fûck all and selling it at a rip off price. If the pharmacy was able to buy the product cheaper, they would sell it cheaper. This thread already includes a specific example of this being the case.

locum-motion

Dunnes, Pharmacies, it is widespread. It's their business but it is a new low to reverse something like buying the bigger just to profit a few cent.

This thread is about OTC medicines in pharmacies. Now, we've all seen cases like you mentioned of things like a twin pack of 7-up being more expensive than two single bottles.
What I asked you was if you had any specific examples of the same thing happening in a pharmacy, with an Over The Counter medicine. I'll buy you a pint if you can show me just one.

gctest50

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote: »

Is it legal to post an irish prescription from here to a proper spanish pharmacy and get them to send meds back? Anyone know?

I doubt it for safety reasons - some stuff would be sensitive to temperature and anyway it ought to transported in a proper manner.

Of course if it gets a bit popular it won't be too long before "enterpreneurs" jump in and you'll end up with tablets made of polyfilla.

Then to stop that happening you'll need a body to oversee it all.

But we already have all that so you are back to where you started. Pity really.

locum-motion

And the situation is even worse with prescription medications, I've read recently it's still near 300% more expensive in Ireland for a combination of Atorvastin and Tritace than in Northern Ireland. And even more of a difference in Spain.

Again, not what we're talking about, but anyway...
Yes, some (most) medicines are more expensive here than in other countries. Your point?

locum-motion

Is it legal to post an irish prescription from here to a proper spanish pharmacy and get them to send meds back? Anyone know?

No, it is not legal.
Irish law prohibits the supply of medicinal products through mail order. The definition of mail order includes a prohibition against using the postal system, the communications system, or electronic devices connected to the system to transmit or place an order or to make a delivery of a medicinal product.

locum-motion

I can't see how you can say pharmacys/drug companies are not ripping people off.

Would you care to point out to me where I said anything about whether or not drugs companies are ripping anyone off?


I did mention pharmacies. When mentioning them, I used words like 'reasonable price' and 'reasonable profit'. There was one specific price mentioned where I did say it seemed very high.

You said "I don't see how you can say..."
Please make sure that I actually said something before you go arguing against me saying it!

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D

locum-motion wrote: »

If you had properly read the thread, you'd have seen that its title specifies OTC meds, so obviously the product in question is not prescription only in Ireland.

You said its illegal to buy online, i said is it not prescription only thats illegal, otc is ok.

On phone now so will come back to this some other time.

locum-motion

Prof Nincom Poop Ph.D wrote: »

You said its illegal to buy online, i said is it not prescription only thats illegal, otc is ok...

OK, I see where you're coming from now: I thought you were asking if the product was 'Prescription Only', rather than was it only prescription only products that you can't buy online.

The answer is no. The Act specifies 'Medicinal Products', so that covers all of them, prescription or otherwise.

echo beach

Worth mentioning that Lamisal cream, like every other medicine that isn't taken by mouth, is subject to 23% VAT so if you pay €8.55 you will be paying €1.60 of that to the government. The pharmacy is obliged to collect this for them with no payment for the work involved.

locum-motion

echo beach wrote: »

Worth mentioning that Lamisal cream, like every other medicine that isn't taken by mouth, is subject to 23% VAT so if you pay €8.55 you will be paying €1.60 of that to the government. The pharmacy is obliged to collect this for them with no payment for the work involved.

Also worth adding that medicines for human use in the UK DO NOT have VAT, so this goes part way to explaining the price difference, too.

RobFowl

locum-motion wrote: »

Also worth adding that medicines for human use in the UK DO NOT have VAT, so this goes part way to explaining the price difference, too.

Didn't know that !
Are all medicines for human use Vat exempt there then?

locum-motion

RobFowl wrote: »

Didn't know that !
Are all medicines for human use Vat exempt there then?

Yep. But if a vet writes a script for - say - Amoxicillin for a dog, then the pharmacy has to charge VAT to the owner and pass it onto the VATman, even if the capsules came out of the same container as the ones given out on human scripts.

L1011

locum-motion wrote: »

Also worth adding that medicines for human use in the UK DO NOT have VAT, so this goes part way to explaining the price difference, too.

I thought that was just on prescription, with 20% VAT on all OTC?

locum-motion

MYOB wrote: »

I thought that was just on prescription, with 20% VAT on all OTC?

Unless things have changed, Nope.

L1011

locum-motion wrote: »

Unless things have changed, Nope.

HMRC website suggests that all OTCs except nicotine replacement products are standard rate.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageLibrary_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000121&propertyType=document

http://www.psnc.org.uk/pages/vat.html

locum-motion

TL; DR!

OK, I'll take your word for it.