Discounts In Pharmacies: How To Buy Cheaper

(Seasonal Discounts, Coupons, PR actions)

How much is a pack of aspirin, would you answer? Difficult to remember it, first of all because fortunately the medicines are not bought as often as bread or pasta. The answer, however, is simple: certainly more than last year, but in fact the inflation is almost painless, since it is slightly higher than the rate of inflation. This price slowdown applies to many medicines, but the overall increase remains modest. Sign that the liberalization of the market has produced its fruits. There are plenty of opportunities to spend less on pills and syrups. In fact, market competition has ensured that citizens can save money by choosing the cheapest store; not just pharmacies, now also parapharmacies and hypermarkets.

How Much Can You Save By Changing The Store

The liberalization of the sector and the expansion of sales channels (which has forced pharmacies to compete with parapharmacies and hypermarkets) have made it possible to widen the price gap: the same drug can cost 70% more by changing the store. On average, however, prices vary by 58%. In practice it means that, thanks to the virtuous mechanism of competition, today it is possible to choose a store that is much cheaper than another. Once again, the corners of hypermarkets are once more agreed. Buying drugs from large retailers costs an average of 17.6% less than at the pharmacy, but 15.4% more than off an online drugstore.

Waiting for a seasonal discount or for a special price is a wise tactic that can result in additional savings. But how do you learn about discounts with this or that pharmacy store? Becoming a subscriber to newsletters distributed by an e-pharmacy will enlist you as a recipient for reduced prices alerts. Given that you order drug refills well in advance, you will always be on the winning side: you will buy drugs at a reduced price instead of buying them when they are urgently needed at a higher cost. Of course, this is only applicable to medicines that are taken according to a dosing schedule or those that any family should have in the house at any given time.

Same Drug, Different Price

In the deregulated drug market, every shop makes its price: never before, choosing the least expensive store becomes an opportunity to save on health. Competition exists, with discounts. We did a test on two common over-the-counter drugs, two identical purchases in two pharmacies in Milan: Voltaren and Privine. In one case we paid $15.50, in the other store $12.82. Almost two dollars of difference on a modest expense is not too little.

Generics are a big thing when it comes to saving money. Many “branded” drugs have an equivalent: it is a medicine that has the same active ingredient in the same quantity, the same form, with comparable efficacy and safety, but with a lower price. No reason, therefore, not to prefer it. Follow these guidelines and you will find all the equivalents of the drug or active ingredient you are looking for.

The term “equivalent” has definitively replaced, in 2005, the previous “generic”: these are medicines that by law must have the same active ingredient, in the same quantity, of the reference drug, whose patent has expired. They also have the same pharmaceutical form (tablets, syrup, etc.) or very similar (they can be effervescent tablets, for example, instead of classic tablets) and the same “bioavailability” (they reach, that is, a certain concentration in the blood in the same ways and times).

They do not have to be identical, they can also have some excipient (non-pharmacologically active substance) different. The important thing is that they contain the same active ingredient, in the same dosage, and have the same pharmaceutical form in order to guarantee the same bioavailability of the equivalent branded drug.

The manufacturer of equivalents usually gives the medicine the name of the active ingredient, followed by the name of the company itself, e.g. diclofenac Doc or ticlopidine Ratiopharm. But it could also give it a fancy name, as happens with designer medicines. In any case, the wording “equivalent medicinal product” must be present on the outer packaging of the equivalent drug, as required by law.

Practical Ways To Accrue Benefits Of Discounts

Becoming a registered subscriber to an online pharmacy service like Nu-Edge Pharmacy, you will automatically opt in for receiving promotion codes and coupons to be redeemed during your next purchases. The care of your body is important, but involves very high costs sometimes! Thanks to these discount codes you can save on your well-being without renouncing the quality of the best brands and pharmaceutical companies. Think first of yourself: your well-being comes first of all!