Cost Analysis of Various Brands of Popularly Prescribed an Antidiabetic Drug: Metformin

Drug therapy (medicines) has a fundamental role in the healthcare system. An increase in the cost of medicine results in poor compliance and can be a prominent cause of failure of outcomes of drug therapy. Diabetes is a global epidemic and a potential catastrophic metabolic disorder that also affects India. A total of 425 million peoples (age 20 to 79 years) are affected globally among which 40.9 million peoples are Indian. If it is not appropriately treated, fatal diseases such as neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy may arise and can cause lifelong disability. It requires long-term therapy. Due to the large duration of therapy, it raises the economic burden on the patient. The purpose of the current study is to find out the price variations of a popularly prescribed oral antidiabetic drug (OAD) "METFORMIN and Its combinations" available at the market of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, India and to evaluate the differences in the cost of various brands of the same drug by calculating the percentage variation in price in Indian rupees. Cost of single and combination compound drug (Metformin + other oral hypoglycemic drugs) manufactured by different companies, in the same strength, number, and dosage form was obtained from two online pharmacy stores and local area pharmacy stores/ medical stores of Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh, India in October 2019 to December 2019. There is a wide variation in the prices of brands of metformin drugs marketed in India. In the case of monotherapy, the price variation was found to be 159.49% for 250mg metformin tablet and the cost ratio for the same potency is 2.59, which denotes that screened costlier brand is 2.59 folds expensive than the screened cheapest brand. In the case of combination therapy, there is a large price variation among the two compound combinations (Metformin+Glipizide) is 880.39% and the cost ratio is 9.80. The study concludes that there is a vast cost variation among the brands of Metformin available at the market of Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh, India. It requires strict actions for cost policy regulation and sensitization of doctors for the selection of appropriate inexpensive brands of drugs. Our study results help the prescriber to select the same drug at a low cost, which improves patient adherence to the treatment as well fulfills one of the criteria of rational prescription, and also reduces the burden of treatment on a patient