Price Comparison of Commonly Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in …
Price Comparison of Commonly Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in Alberta 2018
Price Comparison of Commonly Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in Alberta 2018
In Canada, prescription medications are the second most costly component of health care, upwards of $29 billion per year.1 These costs largely reflect the treatment of chronic medical conditions predominantly cared for by family physicians,2 including heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and depression.1
Among OECD nations, Canada's drug spending per capita is lower than only Switzerland and the United States.4 Canada also has the second highest rate of cost related medicine non-adherence in the world, where one in 12 Canadians do not fill a prescription or skip doses due to medication costs.5 In Alberta, trade name medications account for 33% of prescriptions but around 80% of prescription drug costs.6 On a national level, the top 100 most expensive prescription drugs (of ~3000 available products),7 account for almost half of total prescription drug spending.8
Canada is currently the only country with a universal health insurance system without a national pharmacare program.11 Adopting a national pharmacare program would save approximately 7 billion dollars annually in prescription drug costs.11
Many medications within a drug class are therapeutically interchangeable with similar anticipated clinical outcomes. Newer medications within a class are often derivatives of older products, frequently at a substantially higher cost, and often not covered under provincial drug plans (see Table 1). In 2015, pharmaceutical companies spent over 500 million dollars on journal advertisements and sales representative visits in Canada,9 with over 90% of marketing aimed at medications with little or no therapeutic gain over existing prodcuts.10
Most provincial governments are implementing cost control measures for prescription medications. For instance, Alberta implemented a maximum allowable cost pricing for proton pump inhibitors, where patients are encouraged to use a covered lower cost alternative medication or personally pay the cost difference between their higher and lower cost alternative.12 We estimate that using lower cost PPIs could save over 200 million dollars annually in Canada without an appreciable change in most patients symptoms or health.
Recently, the panC anadian Pharmaceutical Alliance announced a new pricing deal with generic pharmaceutical makers.13 While they negotiated a 25-40% price reduction for the 70 most commonly prescribed generic medications,14 Canadians will still be paying significantly more than other countries for their generic medications.14 (see Table 2)
Medication costs information may influence prescribers to choose lower cost alternative medications.15 With this in mind, we are pleased to publish our 6th annual Price Comparison of Commonly Prescribed Pharmaceuticals in Alberta. We encourage prescribers to consider costs (and medication coverage) when treating chronic medical conditions and especially when needing to choose between therapeutically similar medications.
In addition to considering least cost alternatives, other ways of decreasing medication costs include: ? Using combination products ? Extending long term prescriptions to at least 90 days ? Splitting medications
In this document, costs listed are primarily for the generic product (with generic name bolded) as provincial drug plans will generally only pay for the lowest cost formulation. Brand name prices (with brand name bolded) are for products still under patent protection. We also provide information on coverage by Alberta Blue Cross (BC) and Indian Affairs (IA) formularies and which products require Special Authorization (SA). Medications that
are not covered (NC) are paid for entirely by your patients.
The prices, rounded to the nearest $5, represent the entire retail cost of the prescription filled at a community pharmacy in Alberta, including markups and dispensing fee. This does not reflect what a patient would pay if covered under a drug plan, but rather the cost to an individual without coverage, or to the health system. The reported price reflects the maximum allowable dispensing fee charged under provincial regulations. Some pharmacies may charge less than that, but this tool allows for relative cost comparisons between medications in the same class or for treating the same condition.
This list is not exhaustive, but is up to date as of February 3, 2018. We encourage you to contact your local pharmacist for information on medications not included that you routinely use in your practice.
Please forward any feedback, including cases where knowledge of medication cost or coverage made a difference to your patients or practice to: mkolber@ualberta.ca or tony.nickonchuk@ahs.ca.
Michael Kolber MD CCFP MSc, University of Alberta, Peace River Jayson Lee BSc Pharm,Pharmacare Fulfillment Centre, Edmonton G. Michael Allan MD CCFP, University of Alberta, Edmonton Christina Korownyk MD CCFP, University of Alberta, Edmonton Tony Nickonchuk BSc Pharm, Alberta Health Services, Peace River
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What's New in 2018?
Added: Acne medication and Testosterone replacement
Table 1: Important Price Differences between Generic and Trade Name or Therapeutically Similar Products
Brand Brilinta 90mg
Generic Name Ticagrelor
90 Day Cost $315
Cheaper Alternative 90 Day Cost
Clopidogrel 75mg $50
90 Day Savings $265
Trintellix 20mg Vortioxetine
$320
Fluoxetine 20mg
$60
$260
Pristiq 50mg
Desvenlafaxine $285
Venlafaxine 75mg $45
$240
Glumetza SR 2000mg QD
Metformin SR $255
Metformin 1g BID
$30
$225
Advair Diskus 250/50
Fluticasone/ Salmeterol
$340
Nexium 40mg Coversyl 4mg
Esomeprazole Perindopril
$200 $95
Symbicort 200/6 (Budesonide/ Formoterol) Pantoprazole 40mg Ramipril 5mg
$155
$30 $30
Table 2: Comparison of Newly Negotiated Canadian Generic and New Zealand Generic Medication Prices
$185
$170 $65
Drug Atorvastatin 80mg
Frequency Daily
New Canadian Price Per 3 Month Supply ($CAD)
$21
New Zealand Price Per 3 Month Supply ($CAD)
$6
Difference -$15
Amlodipine 5mg
Daily
$12
$1
-$11
Metformin 850mg TID
$9
$4
-$5
Candesartan 32mg Daily
$21
$10
-$11
Olanzapine 10mg
Daily
$64
Finasteride 5mg
Daily
$37
$5
-$59
$4
-$33
References:
1. Prescription medication use by Canadians aged 6 to 79. Statistics Canada. 2014. Available at: . Accessed November 23, 2015.
2. Stewart M, Ryan B. Ecology of health care in Canada. Can Fam Physician 2015; 61:449-53
3. Canadian Rx Atlas, 3rd ed. 2013. Available at: . Accessed November 25, 2014.
4. OECD Data: Per capita Pharmaceutical Spending. Available at: healthres/pharmaceutical-spending.htm#indicator-chart. Accessed February 14, 2018.
5. Morgan SG, Lee A. Cost-related non-adherence to prescribed medicines among older adults: a cross-sectional analysis of a survey in 11 developed countries. BMJ Open 2017; 7:e014287. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016- 014287
6. Alberta prescription drug market. 2016. Available at: . Accessed February 5, 2018.
7. Author calculation based on: Alberta Drug Benefit List, Alberta Human Services and the Palliative Coverage Drug Benefit Supplements Price File January 1, 2016. Available at: Accessed December 23, 2015
8. Paquette A. Top drugs of 2013. 2014 Feb 18. Pharmacy Practice Plus. Available at: Accessed December 3, 2015.
9. Lexchin J. Drug prices: How do we get to a better place? CMAJ 2017 June 12;189:E792-3. doi: 10.1503
10. Lexchin J. The relation between promotional spending on drugs and their therapeutic gain: a cohort analysis. CMAJ Open 2017. DOI:10.9778/cmajo.20170089
11. Morgan SG, Law M, Daw JR, Abraham L, Martin D. Estimated cost of universal public coverage of prescription drugs in Canada. CMAJ 2015. DOI:10.1503 /cmaj.141564
12. Alberta Health Pharmacy Benefact Number 639. September 2016. Available at: https:// ab.bluecross.ca/pdfs/pharmacy-benefacts/pharmacy-benefact-639.pd
13. Zafar A. CBC News January 29, 2017. Generic drug industry agrees to cut prices up to 40% in 5y ear deal with provinces Available at: . Accessed Feb 1, 2017.
14. Adhopia V. Big Pharma Blinked. But Why? Available at: second-opinion-february-3-2018-1.4517468. Accessed February 3, 2018.
15. Gorfinkel I, Lexchin J. We need to mandate drug cost transparency in electronic medical records. CMAJ 2017 December 18;189:E1541-2. doi: 10.1503
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Table of Contents
CARDIOVASCULAR........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Lipid Lowering Agents, Beta Blockers, Calcium Channel Blockers, Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors (ACEIs)................6 Angiotensin Receptor Blockers (ARBs).............................................................................................................................................................................7 Diuretics, Anti-platelet, Anti-coagulant..............................................................................................................................................................................7
HYPOGLYCEMIC AGENTS............................................................................................................................................8 OBESITY...............................................................................................................................................................................8 SMOKING CESSATION.................................................................................................................................................. 9 RESPIRATORY.................................................................................................................................................................10 GASTROINTESTINAL..................................................................................................................................................... 11 PSYCHIATRY.................................................................................................................................................................... 12 CONTRACEPTIVES....................................................................................................................................................... 13 HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY.................................................................................................................14 UROLOGY.......................................................................................................................................................................... 14 ANALGESICS.................................................................................................................................................................... 15 MISCELLANEOUS.......................................................................................................................................................... 16
Antibiotics, Osteoporosis, Dementia................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 Topical steroids and other preparations.......................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Lice treatments........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Oral iron therapy........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18
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