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Stunning! Thailand cheapest place for medicines in the world, says survey


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Stunning! Thailand cheapest place for medicines in the world, says survey

 

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Thai caption: Thailand has the cheapest medicines in the world

 

Sanook reported that it was "stunning" that Thailand has been named as the cheapest place to buy medicines in the world according to an online survey.

 

America is the most expensive by far. 

 

Female contraceptives and HIV medication are among the cheapest individual medicines. 

 

Fifty countries were surveyed in the MEDBELLE "2019 Medicine Price Index".

 

It was a comparison survey of 13 medications from heart meds to Viagra, Asthma to Anti-depressants and HIV treatments. 

 

The method by which Medbelle came up with their findings is explained on their site as follows:

 

We began the study by selecting thirteen prevalent pharmaceutical compounds in order to make a comparison on a euro-for-euro basis of how much medicines cost in different countries, regardless of whether covered by a healthcare system, or paid directly from the individual’s pocket. The medications chosen for comparison span a variety of common conditions; from heart disease and asthma, to anxiety disorders and erectile dysfunction. The average prices of both the brand compound and their generic versions were included in order to have a complete profile of each medication. Lastly, we normalised the dosage size in order to make the price comparable.

 

Once all these figures were collected, we were able to calculate the median price for each compound around the world, as well as how far the actual price per dose in each country deviates from the median global cost. The results range from a +306.82 % deviation in the United States, to -93.93% in Thailand, highlighting a disparity in what patients pay for the same medicine across the world.

 

Thailand came top with a figure that its medications were 93.93% cheaper than the world average.

 

The rest of the top ten with some averages follows:

 

2. Kenya 93.76%

3. Malaysia 90.80%

4. Indonesia

5. India

6. South Africa

7. Russia

8. Turkey

9. Egypt

10. South Korea 33.98% cheaper

 

The most expensive countries for the 13 medications were

 

1. USA 306.82% more expensive than average

2. Germany 125.64%

3. UAE 122.03%

4. Italy

5. Denmark

6. Qatar

7. Spain

8. Netherlands

9. Israel

10. Iceland 56.01%

 

Thailand's rating for some drugs and their relative cheapest position among the surveyed countries are as follows:

 

Erectile-dysfuction drugs: 31st cheapest

Heart/Cholesterol: 20th

Diabetes: 21st

Female Contraceptives: 4th

HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B: 6th

Bacterial infections: 12th.

 

Source: Sanook

 

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-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2019-12-04
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Got to be joking these figure have not come from the International hospitals I kicked of with them the other week they were going to charge me 500 Baht for 10 Tynenol wrong spelling, I'd already bought the day before 120 Baht for 100 

They charged me 40 Baht per tab for some other drugs Im going to go to the local Chemist and check how much

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9 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

i guess the survey didn't go and check out prices in Cambodia, which pretty much across the board are way lower than here.

Cambodia is 1/2 the price compared to Thailand, even the meds made in Thailand are cheaper in Cambodia.

They come out with some B/S surveys.

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I take 5 prescription meds: Prasagruel, Bisoprolol, Rouvastatin, Taladafil, Losartan. Typical cardiac drugs

 

The price of all of those are cheaper in the USA, using discount coupons and cash, as of the date I last filled in the US (July). I would note that prescription drug prices have dropped significantly for me since Trump started jawboning Big Pharma, last year, all of those drugs were cheaper in Thailand even the Brand Name vis generic. Now its the opposite. YMMV.

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Facts: cheap is a relative compression, cheap as in what? cost of living, and salaries earned, most medicines sold in Thailand are of an inferior qualities either manufactured here or imported from neighbouring countries with more filler material than the medicine compounds needed, others sold in leading hospitals ARE NOT cheap by any stretch of imaginations, others are mostly fakes or heavily diluted...

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38 minutes ago, ThreeEyedRaven said:

They may well have not taken into account the dual pricing here, which means farangs pay a whole heap extra for anything to do with medical care. 

There is no dual pricing at the local Government Hospital I use.

Most people are aware that using private hospitals is ALWAYS more expensive, and people have a choice to go elsewhere.

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52 minutes ago, law ling said:

Not exactly my experience - I haven't found here the much cheaper generic brand statins (for cholesterol) and hypertension meds - only have here the more expensive brand-name versions.

That's interesting as i have been getting generic Atorvastatin and Amlopidine from my private hospital for over three years now and it is widely available in most pharmacies.

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31 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

I take 5 prescription meds: Prasagruel, Bisoprolol, Rouvastatin, Taladafil, Losartan. Typical cardiac drugs

 

The price of all of those are cheaper in the USA, using discount coupons and cash, as of the date I last filled in the US (July). I would note that prescription drug prices have dropped significantly for me since Trump started jawboning Big Pharma, last year, all of those drugs were cheaper in Thailand even the Brand Name vis generic. Now its the opposite. YMMV.

I don't think that most countries will accept your "discount coupons". As for prices being cheaper in the US, a simple online search shows that is nonsense, As does talking to all my US friends.

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only "prescription" med i use is ventolin, and its cheap like water here at 215 baht per inhaler.

almost twice the price in the philipines, and the fact i can actually get a refill without doctors note here makes it considerably cheaper than back home where it ranges from 40 to 60 bucks before the price of an appointment.

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3 minutes ago, Seismic said:

I don't think that most countries will accept your "discount coupons". As for prices being cheaper in the US, a simple online search shows that is nonsense, As does talking to all my US friends.

Well I'm not your friend, but I'll tell everyone else that when I go to my local USA pharmacy with some cash and my discount coupons, I pay less in the USA than here. So as opposed to hearsay, there it is from someone who has bought in both places. 

 

Here is an example I pay 300b ($9.99) in the USA for 30 5mg bisoprolol, here, I just paid last night 580 baht for the equivalent Concor.

 

So basically you are calling me a liar?

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6 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Well I'm not your friend, but I'll tell everyone else that when I go to my local USA pharmacy with some cash and my discount coupons, I pay less in the USA than here. So as opposed to hearsay, there it is from someone who has bought in both places. 

 

Here is an example I pay 300b ($9.99) in the USA for 30 5mg bisoprolol, here, I just paid last night 580 baht for the equivalent Concor.

 

So basically you are calling me a liar?

Hypercor (same as Concor) is available here for 480 baht for 100X5mg pack. So, no, I am not calling you a liar, just someone who doesn't take the time to look around.

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20 minutes ago, Seismic said:

Hypercor (same as Concor) is available here for 480 baht for 100X5mg pack. So, no, I am not calling you a liar, just someone who doesn't take the time to look around.

Unfortunately for your analysis and mine, I just looked at my script bottle and in the USA, I pay $9.99 for 90 not 30. So looking around is something I will leave to you. 

 

Tell me about Effient, $60 here, $27.99 in the USA. Tell me where the cheap stuff is since you clearly are the expert.

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1 hour ago, law ling said:

Not exactly my experience - I haven't found here the much cheaper generic brand statins (for cholesterol) and hypertension meds - only have here the more expensive brand-name versions.

 

Either your doctors have you on very new versions of these drugs that are still under patent (and often little different/no better than older formulations) or you're going to the wrong pharmacies. 

 

Cheap genetic equivalents of statins and anti-hypertensives are readily obtained here.

 

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1 hour ago, law ling said:

Not exactly my experience - I haven't found here the much cheaper generic brand statins (for cholesterol) and hypertension meds - only have here the more expensive brand-name versions.

There are plenty of generic statins available in Thailand. Crestor is probably one of the more expensive brand name statins which before it came off patent was something like 2,400 for 20mg tabs. The Berlin generic version, now that the patent has expired, is about 790 baht.

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2 hours ago, ripstanley said:

They must have not checked the Pharmacies at Private Hospitals.

Here is an example of what I paid for my Thai GF about 6 months ago.  The prices are from a website called Pharmacychecker. These are the lowest prices on that website.

 

Meropenem 2x1gm doses.    1491 baht a gram or 2982 total.                Hospital charge 48,280

 

Valcyte 450mg     328 baht per pill x 60 or 19,984 baht total.               Hospital charge 167,932

 

Also, noticeably absent on the billing was the quantity of any drug.  The needless tests and procedures that ran the bill up to 500K baht in 4 days is another story.  

 

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Actually the drugs that are available in cheap generic in Thailand are cheaper there than in Cambodia (I know - I am often asked to bring meds in for Cambodian friends).


What is far cheaper in Cambodian vs Thailand are the Western imports.

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5 hours ago, darksidedog said:

i guess the survey didn't go and check out prices in Cambodia, which pretty much across the board are way lower than here.

Bangladesh pharma make the products under licence win easily. India also very cheap but risky. Russia I found a bargain too. Again another Thai fake news story.

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