PHARMACOECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS BRANDS OF COMMONLY PRESCRIBED ORAL ANTIHYPERTENSIVE MEDICINES IN INDIAN MARKET
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2022.v15i3.44092Keywords:
Antihypertensives, Pharmacoeconomic, Price variation, Current index of medical specialties, Indian marketAbstract
Objectives: The objective of the study was to analyze the percentage cost variations among various brands of the commonly prescribed antihypertensive medicines in India.
Methods: Cost of a particular medicine (cost per 10 tablets) in the same strength and dosage forms being produced by various pharmaceutical companies was taken from Current Index of Medical specialties and Drug Today. Difference between the highest and lowest cost of the same drug manufactured by various pharmaceutical industries was obtained and percentage cost variation was calculated.
Results: The percentage variation in the price was above 100% with almost all of the commonly prescribed antihypertensive medicines. The cost of a total of 23 drugs (14 single and nine combination preparations), available in forty nine different formulations were studied. Overall, Amlodipine (5 mg) shows highest price difference of 982.3%, while Nifedipine (5 mg) shows lowest price difference of 39%. Telmisartan + Hydrochlorthiazide (80+12.5 mg) combinations shows highest price variation of 318.9%, while Amlodipine + Losartan (5+50 mg) shows lowest price difference of 50%.
Conclusion: The average percentage price difference of the same antihypertensive medicine manufactured by various pharmaceuticals company in India is very huge. Hence, Government, Pharmaceutical companies, prescribing health care workers should educate themselves about huge variation in price of brand drugs in comparison with their cheap generic counterpart to provide maximum benefits with minimum financial burden to the patients receiving antihypertensive drugs.
Downloads
References
Park K. Park’s Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine. 23rd ed. India: Bhanot Publishers; 2015.
Kokiwar PR, Gupta SS, Durge PM. Prevalence of hypertension in a rural community of Central India. J Assoc Physicians India 2012;60:26-9.
Patel V, Chatterji S, Chisholm D, Ebrahim S, Gopalakrishna G, Mathers C, et al. Chronic diseases and injuries in India. Lancet 2011;377:413-28.
Indrayan A. Epidemiology of hypertension. J Assoc Physicians India 1994;42:175-6.
Management Sciences for Health (MSH). Evaluating the Cost of Pharmaceuticals; 2007. Available from: http://www.who.int/medicines/ technical_briefing/tbs/06-TG_Evaluating-drug-costs_final-08.pdf [Last accessed on 2015 Dec 12].
Dodson PM, Lip GY, Eames SM, Gibson JM, Beevers DG. Hypertensive retinopathy: A review of existing classification systems and a suggestion for a simplified grading system. J Hum Hypertens 1996;10:93-8.
Hilleman DE, Mohiuddin SM, Lucas BD, Stading JA, Stoysich AM, Ryschon K. Cost minimization analysis of initial antihypertensive therapy in patients with mild-to-moderate essential diastolic hypertension. Clin Ther 1994;16:88-102; discussion 87.
Patel D, Thiyangu R, Surulivelrajan M, Patel H, Pandey S. Price variability among the oral antibiotics available in South Indian Tertiary Care Hospital. J Clin Diagn Res 2009;3:1871-5.
Shankar PR, Subish P, Mishra P, Lalit M. Ambiguous pricing of Nepalese medicines. J Inst Med Nepal 2006;28:35-8.
World Standard. Current Index of Medical Specialties. World Standard; 2021. p. 88-128.
Laxminarayana K, Satish GR. Cost variation analysis of antihypertensive drugs available in Indian market: An Economic Prospective. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2016;7:2050-6.
Karve A, Chattar K. Cost analysis study of oral antihypertensive agents available in Indian market. Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2014;3:479-83.
Limaye D. Cost-effectiveness study of Antihypertensive drugs in Mumbai, India. Int J Life Sci Pharm Res 2018;8:97-103.
Drug Finance. Available from: http://www.whoindia.org/EN/Section2/ Section/Section160
Sarkar PK. A rational drug policy. Indian J Med Ethics 2004;12:30-5.
Roy V, Rewari S. Ambiguous drug pricing: A physicians dilemma. Indian J Pharmacol 1998;30:404-11.
Wertheimer AI, Grumer SK. Overview of international pharmacy pricing. Pharmacoeconomics 1992;2:449-55.
Berki SE, Richards JW, Weeks HA. The mysteries of prescription pricing in retail pharmacies. Med Care 1977;15:241-50.
Rataboli PV, Dang A. Antimicrobial price variation: Conundrum of medical profession! J Postgrad Med 2007;53:72-4.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2022 Anshul Jhanwar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
