Continuously rising medicines cost-- Why ?

South India is famous for medical tourism but these medicines business hasn't changed since ages and they have become costly I think like all other edibles which became costly after covid.
I use inhalers and they have definitely increased in prices. I am asthamic by birth and there isn't any medicine to cure it permanently.
 
bssunilreddy said:
South India is famous for medical tourism but these medicines business hasn't changed since ages and they have become costly I think like all other edibles which became costly after covid.
I use inhalers and they have definitely increased in prices. I am asthamic by birth and there isn't any medicine to cure it permanently.
Click to expand...
Inherited Asthma from my parents , tried hundreds of medication , alternative medications , the only thing that worked for me was swimming ,
 
Ankit2306 said:
Inherited Asthma from my parents , tried hundreds of medication , alternative medications , the only thing that worked for me was swimming ,
Click to expand...
Try yoga and meditation. Indian Ayurveda is thousands of years old and it's oldest technique is Yoga. Trust me.
Same here asthma from parents using inhalers when needed.
 
ankushv said:
I too buy all my meds online . The discounts are upto 20 percent . Always generics are also recommended . I've stopped buying from chemists for the last five years .
Click to expand...
I by default get 10-15%discount on mrps in 2 medical shops as they are good friends now so no hassles of online purchases however, the main question still remains!
 
I have a query to anyone using online merchants for medicines. Are you not worried about your medical history being stored over the internet?

Any data leak could lead to your entire disease history becoming public. Even if not directly, looking at your medical purchases will give us an idea of what you are suffering from.

Especially if they are able to give heavy discounts then this again points to data mining their customers and this time it's actually privileged information, not your favourite candy or shoes or mobile phone data.
 
Sarath_ said:
I have a query to anyone using online merchants for medicines. Are you not worried about your medical history being stored over the internet?

Any data leak could lead to your entire disease history becoming public. Even if not directly, looking at your medical purchases will give us an idea of what you are suffering from.

Especially if they are able to give heavy discounts then this again points to data mining their customers and this time it's actually privileged information, not your favourite candy or shoes or mobile phone data.
Click to expand...
Older people have nothing to worry about their medical history getting shared. They will mostly not get medical insurance anyways or already get charged an exorbitant amount for it. My mother's diabetes medicines cost around Rs. 28k per year. Currently getting 25-30% discount online compared to 10% discount locally. That extra 5-6k discount is definitely worth whatever data mining they can do.
 
Why Generic medicines are not taking off.. they provide a massive discount of 60-80%.. which can reduce medicines bill by a large margin
 
Just noticed 1MG shows different price for members on the item page but when you add it to the cart it shows a higher amount, i contacted there customer care but did not understand his explaination. They have made the discount identical with Pharmeasy earlier 1mg had higher discount.
 
Soyab0007 said:
Why Generic medicines are not taking off.. they provide a massive discount of 60-80%.. which can reduce medicines bill by a large margin
Click to expand...

Difficult to get those patents nullified in most cases. Also if governments become aggressive towards converting most propriety medicines into generics then the Pharma companies will stop their research which can run into hundreds of millions of dollars and we will end up with no new drug development. It's a fine balancing act.

Still in India we are on par with China at ripping off propriety medicine. Hence the low cost of medicines.
 
Drug prices might be rising but this is not the main reason. Drug prices on an average always increased with inflation. Nothing fancy about it.

The biggest culprit this time is the increase in the profit margin. Usually drug medications have 50% margin reserved for the pharmacy shop.

Take any drug! for instance say paracetamol or statin. You have 100s of manufacturer making them. But the pharmacy doesn't have space to keep all of those 100s of different makes for the same drug. So, if you are a drug manufacturer, how do you compete with others? You increase profit margin for the pharmacy by increasing the MRP on the label.

If your drug doesn't give higher margins to pharmacy then it has no reason to keep you.

For example, there are two identical drugs by two manufacturers.

Statin 1:
Wholesale price: 50
MRP: 110
-----------------
Profit for pharmacy: 60

Statin 2:
Wholesale price: 50
MRP: 200
---------------
Profit for pharmacy: 150

Why would pharmacy waste the space on Statin 1 if that's less profitable? That's how prices are rising today. There are 100s of manufacturers and only handful can occupy the space inside pharmacy shop.
 
For the exact same diabetes medicine that my Mom takes - Gluconorm G2 - there are around 20 manufacturers. The one we buy (as recommended by doctor) is the second most expensive option at 16 bucks a tablet. Options are available at nearly 1/3rd the price as well. But not everyone produces the drug properly is what I've heard. Even some member who deals with the pharma industry confirmed the same in some thread. And that was true even for something as basic as Paracetamol. And that's why some companies can get away with pricing the same product at 3 times others. I maybe wrong, so an input from industry insider would be good.
 
rdst_1 said:
I maybe wrong, so an input from industry insider would be good.
Click to expand...
You are not wrong. Do read 'bottle of lies' book. I once had paracetamol from a Generic company called davaindia and didn't feel a thing.

What you can do is buy from a well known manufacturer like Ciple, GSK, Mankind, Abbott, etc. There are so many big Indian and American brands present.
 
rdst_1 said:
But not everyone produces the drug properly is what I've heard. Even some member who deals with the pharma industry confirmed the same in some thread. And that was true even for something as basic as Paracetamol. And that's why some companies can get away with pricing the same product at 3 times others.
Click to expand...
Could you please point to the thread mentioned above?

Is there a reliable list of "well known manufacturers"?
 
Last edited:
Companies have realized that if they raise prices together, consumers have no option. Its basically an industry wide cartel now but across almost all industries.
You can read more on american inflation in last 2 yrs and its a similar thing here too. Covid19 has been the single best thing for Capitalism in the last 50 yrs.

Prices of all commodities are rising to almost 2x. Meds have been rising since 2019.

My parents have like 4 tablets that are 30+ rs each.
I'm going to find the distributor for these and buy in bulk. Like 6 months supply.
Might even register a firm with medical sounding name just to **** with them. I highly suggest buyers get together and do this.
There are medicine markets in every city. An excel sheet with meds and company name will do the trick of organizing.
From what I have read, margins are approx 50-70% on each med.

If you need help organizing the buying part and pooling resources, I will help free of cost.
And just incase you want to know, I used to buy from pharmeasy when they had 30% off. The savings are huge when you buy meds worth 15k.
 
Back
Top