Publication:

Analysis of price variation amongst different formulations of anxiolytic drugs available in Indian market

Background Cost of drug therapy is a very serious issue for people belonging to lower economic status in India. A single drug is manufactured by various pharmaceutical companies and sold under different brand names. The prices of these drugs vary in the Indian market. Anxiety is a symptom of many psychiatric disorders and surgical conditions for which anxiolytic drugs are commonly prescribed. This study was planned to study the price variation amongst the different brands of anxiolytic drugs available in India.

Methods Price of anxiolytic drugs manufactured by different pharmaceutical companies, in the same strength and dosage forms were obtained from “current index of medical specialties” Jan-April 2016 and “Indian drug review” Vol. XXII, Issue No.1, 2016. The difference in the maximum and minimum price of the same drug manufactured by different pharmaceutical companies and percentage variation in price per 10 tablets was calculated.

Results Out of 26 single drug formulations analyzed, maximum percentage variation in prices were seen with diazepam (5 mg) 371.42% followed by clonazepam (0.5 mg) 350%, lorazepam (1 mg) 328.57%, alprazolam (0.25 mg) 320% and clobazam (20 mg) 318.18% and out of 7 combination drug formulations analyzed, maximum percentage variation in prices were seen with the combination of chlordiazepoxide + amitriptyline (10 + 25 mg) 230.07% followed by combination of trifluperazine + trihexiphenidyl (5 + 2 mg) 150%.

Conclusions There is a wide variation in the price of different brands of anxiolytic drugs available in Indian market. Government of India should reduce the pricing of drugs by bringing them under drug pricing control order (DPCO).