The pharmacy lottery

I may be repeating myself, but it is important to do some comparison shopping when it comes to buying prescription drugs at pharmacies here in Brazil.

One of the first things I noticed when I moved here was that there is a pharmacy on practically EVERY corner.  There are more pharmacies here in Niterói than there are Starbucks in San Francisco.  Seriously.  Every corner.

The really weird thing for my US sensibility is that the prices of normal prescription drugs vary WILDLY from pharmacy to pharmacy.  Really – WILDLY.

Recently I needed to fill a prescription for an anti-bacterial regimen drug, plus an add-on drug to seal the deal.

I went to 8 different pharmacies (partly because some did not have what I wanted in stock and partly to compare prices).

Complex drug number one varied in price from R$121 to R$165.

Simple drug number two varied in price from R$23 to R$56.

All were the generic versions of the drugs.

So in the end I paid R$144 (including a free delivery) rather than a possible R$221.  That’s a R$77 difference.  What’s up with that?

You gotta shop around.