Drug prices cause blood pressure to rise

We have still more on drug prices. A reader contacted us last week to tell us that a month’s supply of 50mg Cozaar – a standard blood pressure tablet – costs €19.67 in Boots, but in Doc Morris it costs €24.30, a difference of almost €5 for a readily available packet of pills.

“I know this is not in the same league as the savings made on obtaining prescription drugs in Spain or Northern Ireland, but it would be interesting to hear Doc Morris’s explanation for the difference in price.”

One reason for a pricing discrepancy between Boots and one of its main rivals is a change to the former’s business model last year. It has abandoned the traditional 50 per cent mark-up that pharmacists add to the cost price of a drug on top of a €5 dispensing fee, in favour of a single €7 “professional services fee” that will be added to the cost price of drugs.

We contacted Doc Morris to see what they had to say about the price differential on this particular drug.