It is worthwhile to check drug prices now and then (once a quarter seems about right) to see what is happening in the pharmaceutical world.  When you do this, you will find some drugs that have inexplicably shot up in price.  One recent example was doxycycline, which went from around ten cents a tablet to over two dollars a tablet in a couple of months.

On the other hand, drugs that we think of as expensive in the back of our minds sometimes are no longer expensive.  Olanzapine (Zyprexa) is now cheaper than haloperidol.  Risperidone is cheaper still.

And sometimes, a drug that is a bit more expensive than its alternative is still the most cost-effective treatment based on “the hassle factor,” meaning frequency of dosing, ease of administration, potential for diversion–that sort of thing. Drugs prescribed for outbreaks of genital herpes are like that, in my opinion.  Valacyclovir can be more cost-effective than acyclovir for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes. Continue reading →