Archive for March, 2007
How to save hundreds of dollars on Zofran (and possibly other prescription drugs)
Written by Sam on March 13, 2007 – 11:12 pm -How to lower your zofran cost
How I got a $600 Zofran (ondansetron) prescription for $10
I mentioned earlier that my wife recently had surgery. During her recovery she was prescribed several medications which were hard on her stomach and caused severe nausea. In fact, she couldn’t even keep down the anti-nausea medication which eventually resulted in a trip to the emergency room a couple nights after the surgery.
They gave her a prescription for another anti-nausea medication called Zofran. This little pill works wonders and solved her nausea problems. The only problem came when we ran out of the Zofran the hospital gave us and we had to fill the prescription. To our dismay, we found out it was going to cost almost $600 for 30 pills. Actually it would have only cost about $250 because our insurance would only cover 13 pills. And that was for the generic version. I was absolutely blown away. Here we are absolutely reliant on Zofran to get through my wife’s recovery having just spent a significant amount on a surgery and subsequent emergency room visit. We got estimates from other main-stream pharmacies with similar results.
We actually learned later that Zofran is commonly used for chemotherapy patients and pregnant women to help with nausea. In fact I have two sisters-in-law that used it extensively during their pregnancies. And they paid through the nose as well.
Fortunately, we remembered that our surgeon had suggested a little old-school pharmacy by the hospital where they mix some drugs themselves. I’m not sure I’ll explain this correctly, but from what I understood they actually buy the raw drug (the generic name for Zofran is ondansetron) and make the pills themselves. This is different than buying the generic version because the generic version is purchased as a completed pill.
I figured I had nothing to lose so I ran over to their pharmacy and asked how much it would be. To my shock and pleasant surprise, they quoted me $10. I had to verify that it was correct and sure enough, it was a measly $10. I was blown away, and still am, that there could be such a price difference. I feel like I want to shout it from the rooftops to all chemotherapy patients, pregnant women, or otherwise nauseous people in the world. It felt like winning the lottery.
So my question to all GFD readers is, has anyone had a similar experience? Are there other expensive drugs that could be purchased inexpensively if mixed by the pharmacist? I plan on researching this further and will share the results.
Posted in Spending | 10 Comments »