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Price spread: the same drug at six times the price

Published monthly figures on this roster run from the low double figures to the high hundreds. Most of the market is nowhere near either end.

Glenn Torres4 min read
$69low$13525th$179median$21575th$449high

The molecule does not change. The price does, by a factor of 6.5.

What the range actually looks like

456 sellers here publish a figure. The lowest is $69. The highest is $449. Stated that way the market looks chaotic. It is not, quite. Most of the roster clusters. Half of it sits between $135 and $215, which is a band $80 wide. The median is $179. You can check any single seller against that band in the price check.

So the extremes are thin and the middle is crowded. That shape matters. A reader who finds two quotes far apart has probably found one outlier, not a real market spread.

A factor of six is not a discount

It is tempting to read the floor as a bargain and stop. Resist that. A low figure buys a different thing at different sellers. Some price one dose and let the rest rise. Some quote a rate that assumes a standing order. Some quote a period that is not a calendar month. Those are separate questions and a single figure answers none of them.

The ceiling deserves the same suspicion in reverse. A high figure is not evidence of a better product. It may include a consultation, a scale, or a longer supply. It may simply be higher.

The number moves

These quartiles are computed when the page loads. They are not stored. That is deliberate, because a published price is a perishable fact. This desk re-reads figures and a second reading often disagrees with the first. Every movement shifts the band a little.

200 of the 200 rankable sellers carry a written review here. The rest are counted, not assessed. A figure in the range above is a figure somebody published, nothing more.

How to use the band

Do not shop for the floor. Shop for a figure inside the middle half that comes with the dose stated, the interval stated, and the states stated. That is a narrower search than it sounds. It is also the one where the answer holds for longer than a week.

Frequently asked

Why not just take the cheapest price?
Because a low figure and a high figure are often not describing the same purchase. One may price a single dose, or assume a standing order, or bill on a period that is not a calendar month. The floor is only a bargain once those three things match.
Is the middle half a fair price?
It is the ordinary price, which is not the same claim. This site measures what sellers publish; it does not price the drug. A figure inside the band is unremarkable rather than endorsed.
Do these numbers change?
Yes. Every figure here is computed from the roster when the page renders, so a re-read price moves the quartiles the same day. Nothing on this page is stored.

Sources

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