Price variability among the oral antibiotics available in a South Indian Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: There exist a wide range of variation in the prices of drugs marketed in India and other countries of world. Very few studies have been conducted to reveal such price variations in the open market. Objective: This Pharmacoeconomic study is designed to obtain the picture of price variability among the different oral antibiotic drugs available in the hospital pharmacy and their economic impact on patients. Methods: Prices and the units of oral antibiotics sold included in the study were obtained from computer data base of hospital pharmacy department. The percentage price variation was calculated for all the brands of drugs. Brands were classified into costliest, cheapest and mid range based on the cost in comparison with all available brands for a drug. Impact of number of brands on percentage price variation was calculated. The cost incurred by the patient if costliest and the cheapest brands were prescribed for managing clinical condition was calculated. Results: Percentage price variability of 30 brands was 0 - 25% and for 24 brands it was 25.1-50%. For 15 brands percentage price variability was more than 100%. It has been observed that costliest brands were preferentially prescribed over the cheaper alternatives. As the number of brands increased for any drug the percentage price variation (range) also increased. Conclusion: It was observed that percentage price variation was higher among some drugs and this percentage price variation might result in bigger difference in cost of management of infections, if costlier brands were prescribed. Costlier brands were preferred more and there is a need to formulate policy at the Hospital level to address these issues.