Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
While updating the 'free & reduced priced medication lists' on the websites below (Under the "Help For You" Section), I was doing some price checking.
Bottom line, don't get bitten by an infected tick, especially in the USA!
You may want to focus on tick control and prevention methods even more now, especially after you see what has happened to the price of doxycycline, IF it is even available.
Some pharmacies are already reporting they can not supply Doxycycline due to a shortage.
posted
That is so horrible! I can't believe Big Pharma gets away with this.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
I don't think anyone is tyring to get away with anything. It's more that the pharmacy suppliers lost one of their sources of doxycycline a couple years back AND the increase in use/ demand of the antibiotic in recent years.
(More docs diagnosing Lyme, for example, & prescribing longer stints on the drug-- both good!)
But the excessive doxycycline prices of late are not all "supply & demand". From Business Week:
"In the case of doxycycline, which is produced by several companies, the spike in price seems to have been triggered by a temporary shortage.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK:LN) stopped making the drug in November 2012 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration flagged inadequate quality controls at a plant in New Jersey.
While the company has since resumed production, the price remains 6,000 percent its level a year ago.
In an August interview, Hikma CEO Said Darwazah explained it was “forced” to raise prices because its competitors raised theirs."
Now... Why a company is "forced" to RAISE prices because their competitors have jacked up THIER price seems non-sensical to me. Heck... Keep the price even close to the same & you end up cornering the market! Right?
'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
Well, boys & girls, according to GoodRx(dot)com, the CURRENT (March 2014) prices on a "30-day supply" (60 capsules or tablets) of doxycycline vary from a low of $60 at Rite Aid (w/ coupon; available online) and a high $155 at Wally World (with "discount"), Target (with coupon), Safeway & others.
I guess the days of $4 & $10 for a vial might be over for this particular abx. Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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Abxnomore
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18936
posted
Perhaps for the best since Eve Sapi's work shows that doxy should not be the first abx of choice.
Posts: 5191 | From Lyme Zone | Registered: Jan 2009
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Hey Keet-
Did you see this notice on that GoodRX site about Doxy?
"Potentially Unavailable: This drug has recently experienced shortages and may not be available at your pharmacy. Please call ahead to confirm availability."
Looking closer at their site it shows all but one kind of Doxy is "discontinued" and it happens to be the most expensive kind- the one I was getting the highest quotes on today.
Doxycycline Capsules and Tablets [06 March 2014] Products Affected - Description
Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
You can shop around, and use coupons IF the stores actually will take them, etc., but please be forewarned. The online prices advertised aren't always what they are at the register.
I called some of the card/coupon places today too. They advertise up to 75% off drugs if you use their coupon/card. But, they admitted today the average discount will only be about 30%.
People need to check the doses, brands, mg, etc. And most if not all sites have a disclaimer, like the one above on GoodRX, saying the prices are subject to change, or the meds aren't available, etc.
I spent the day calling around to several cities in several states, specifically about Doxy, and found wildly varying prices.
For example, in rural Virginia... (I just put this on the website tonight)... and notice the dose- it is 150 mg. rather than 100 mg. that we are normally use to seeing. I only was given a choice at most places of the 150 mg. or a 20 mg. tablet.
```````````````````````````````````````
One Month of Doxycycline (150 mg. tab, 2 x day)
*Prices vary from day to day, town to town, and pharmacy to pharmacy. A check of several pharmacies in the central Virginia area during mid-March 2014, found the following high/low prices, with an average cost for Doxycycline of $706.20 per month.
Prescription- Doxycycline 150 mg. capsules- 2 per day- 30 days.
'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
Where are you getting these "per pill" prices, Tincup? Are you calculating them? All I find is the 30-day supply estimates (of 6 capsules or tablets).
Crazier still is that if I enter the generic version of doxycycline that IS available?("Doxycycline monohydrate"), I get much *lower* pricing than what I got yesterday.
It shows only $33.91 for 60 100-mg capsules at WallyWorld... with "discount", of course. Same price shown for Target & Sam's (the wholesale division of WallyWorld)!
I *just* called my local W-M & the pharmacist says they DO have it in-stock. The regular cash price is $132 for 60 capsules, but adds they should be able to take the available on-line coupon [which has the Member ID#, RxGroup, RxBin & RxCN numbers] but she can't confirm the final price until they scan this 'Discount Drug Card' in. Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
I agree, Abxnomore. After reading all the evidence of many spirochetes just "converting their form" if hit with anything but a substantial concentration of doxycycline, it's probably much wiser to use a 'combo' therapy for even the early stage of Lyme borreliosis... something like Biaxin & plaquenil, Ceftin & Zithromax, or amoxicillun & flucanazole.
If doxycycline IS used first- due to the presence of suspected co-infectons it's known to be effective against, adding something like tinidazole in would seem to be the wise way to go.
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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poppy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5355
posted
It is the unfriendly atmosphere caused by antibiotics that makes the keets go into a less susceptible form, like cysts. So, doxy is not the villain here. Unless you find something that goes after all the forms, like a combination of drugs, then this is going to happen regardless of which drug you choose. Seems like I have heard that tinidazole/flagyl hits both forms, but not sure I am remembering this right. The other issue here is what about the L forms and blebs. Are they susceptible to the same drugs?
The reason doxy is often the drug of first choice for a new case is that it can also treat ehrlichiosis (and maybe babesia to some extent). So it is a two-fer.
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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The reason doxy is often the drug of first choice for a new case is that it can also treat ehrlichiosis (and maybe babesia to some extent). So it is a two-fer.
- --and the ehrlichiosis can be deadly, so it's important to cover that one early on.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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