Khadga Raj Aran*, Shamsher Singh and G.D. Gupta
Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic condition that affects millions of people throughout the globe and are expected to take medicines for a longer time and even medicines for a lifetime are often needed to treat this disease. Costly branding of pharmaceuticals supplied in these circumstances adds to the burden of disease and may even result in therapeutic nonadherence. Thus, the research work was designed to determine the cost of anti-diabetic medicine from various brands. The cost of different brands of anti-diabetic medicines was calculated by referring to the Indian Depository Receipt (IDR). The cost of each brand 7 tablets in Indian rupee (INR), cost ratio, and percentage cost variance were also determined. The difference between the highest and lowest cost of the same drug produced by various pharmaceutical companies was measured, and percentage variance was also calculated in cost for 7 tablets. The cost of a total of 7 anti-diabetic medicines was analyzed. There is more variation in the prices of different brands of the same anti-diabetic medicines in the Indian market. The highest % cost variation was found for Pioglitazone 15 mg (185.7%), Tolbutamide 500 mg tablet (180%), Glipizide 5 mg (157.2%), Voglibose 0.2 mg (157.2%), Metform 500 mg (124.21%), Bromocriptine 2.5 mg (118.3%) and lowest % cost variation was of Acarbose 25 mg (117.18%)
