DermHelpCentral

GoodRx

Prices for prescription drugs vary widely between pharmacies. In the U.S., drug prices are neither fixed nor regulated. The cost of a prescription may differ by more than $100 between two pharmacies across the street from each other!

If you're uninsured, it's easy to get a better price.
While prices for most drugs at pharmacies are very high for the uninsured patient, there are many ways to save 80% or more – coupons, savings tips, pharmacy or manufacturer discounts, cheaper alternative drugs, or just asking for a better price.

If you want to save money on most prescriptions, check out GoodRx.  Their prices may even be lower than your co-pay!

There's a video of how GoodRx works on this page.

Note:  I am not sure how they do this, but it is truly amazing and can save you lots of money.  The fact remains that most pharmacies are giant rip-offs considering that they are not passing along low prices to their customers.

Important:When you get a coupon, you will need to make sure that the number of pills, the strength, the size of a tube, etc. are all correct.  Many pills come in different strengths and may topicals have different sizes and percentage of active ingredient.  Your physician can help you with this or may print a coupon out for you.

You can get a GoodRx card at some medical offices or from the company.  Attached is a card designed by a physician to help his patients.

GoodRx  iPhone App:
When using this, you don't have to print a coupon --

 

 

1. Go to "App Store" ( this is just for iPhone)
2. Go to "Search"
3. Type "GoodRx"
4. Download ( it's free)
5. Enjoy the app!

 

Cholesterol Comic Guide

This wise comic strip appeared in the NY Times Sunday Review on November 17, 2013.  It's a great inroduction to the statin story.  You will need to click on strip to be able to read it.

 

New Cholesterol Guidelines

New guidelines have been issued by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology for the management of hypercholesterolemia.  However, this may be yet another marketing gambit by the manufacturers of statins and their paid professional goons.

John Abramson and Rita Redberg explain this in a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece:
[The new guidelines} "may sound like good news for patients, and it would be — if statins actually offered meaningful protection from our No. 1 killer, heart disease; if they helped people live longer or better; and if they had minimal adverse side effects. However, none of these are the case."

See: Don't Give Patients More Statins.
or access Word file: Download Don’t Give More Patients Statins

Buying Cheaper Drugs Online

Mail Order Pharmacies: Buying Cheaper Drugs Online

NY Times: November 11, 2013

By ANAHAD O'CONNOR

Q{  Is it safe to order prescription drugs from online pharmacies in Canada?

A: Though technically illegal, millions of Americans buy prescription drugs from overseas pharmacies to save money. But the practice can be a huge gamble.

The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, a professional group, reviewed over 10,000 Internet drug outlets and found that many sold fake or unapproved drugs. Some that claimed to be Canadian pharmacies actually sold medicines from developing countries where regulations are weak and counterfeit drugs are common.

Roger Bate, a pharmaceutical expert at the American Enterprise Institute, estimates that 2 to 3 percent of online pharmacies are legitimate. When buying Canadian, he said, look for outlets certified by the Canadian International Pharmacy Association, a trade group of Canadian pharmacies, or those certified by PharmacyChecker.com, a free website that verifies that the foreign sites it approves protect consumer information and meet quality standards.

Last year, Mr. Bate and his colleagues published a study analyzing 372 orders of five popular prescription drugs – Lipitor, Celebrex, Viagra, Nexium and Zoloft – that they purchased from 79 domestic and foreign online drug outlets. Products bought from Canadian or other foreign sites certified by C.I.P.A. or PharmacyChecker.com were of high quality. So were products ordered from American sites verified by either the N.A.B.P. or LegitScript.com, a certification agency founded by a former White House aide on drug policy issues.

But that was not the case for sites that were not certified by any of these four groups. Many of the drugs they sold were fakes, including about a quarter of the Viagra samples, which largely appeared to have originated in China.

“You can’t be 100 percent certain with any sites, frankly,” Mr. Bate said. “But you are running a much lower risk if you buy from a credentialed site.”

Wound Care Made Simple

Abrasions, blisters, and lacerations are common in recreational and athletic activities and inappropriate care of these wounds can result in delayed healing and infection, including MRSA.

This is the topic of a fine piece on NPR's Academic Minute by Dr. Joel Beam, a wound care researcher. (11/12/13). 

You can access Dr. Beam's Academic Minute piece here - Wound Care - or see the pdf.  Download Beam Wound Care

Cost of Medication

In a November 4, 2013 Op-Ed piece in the NY TImes, Dr. Peter Ubel tells us:
"If an antibiotic would cure your infection, your doctor would probably still warn you about the chance of sun sensitivity before prescribing the pill.
"But even when the costs of a medical intervention might force patients to choose between paying the bill or keeping up with their mortgages, American physicians rarely discuss that serious side effect with them. One physician recently explained to me that he felt money talk would “violate the doctor-patient relationship.”

For Full Op-Ed Piece:  Download Ubel Costs

This Op-Ed piece is based on the New England Journal of Medicine article, Full Disclosure — Out-of-Pocket Costs as Side Effects by Peter A. Ubel, M.D., Amy P. Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., and S. Yousuf Zafar, M.D., M.H.S.:   Download Ubel Costs NEJM

Actikerall for Actinic Keratoses

This is a new product for actinic (solar} keratoses that may be better tolerated than 5% % fluorouracil cream and more effective than Solareze (topical diclofenac).

It is indicated for "topical treatment of slightly palpable and/or moderately thick hyperkeratotic actinic keratosis (grade I/II) in immunocompetent patients.

Not available in the U.S. yet, but there are probably ways to obtain it.

Product Details from the Web:

Almirall Ltd

Drug Name:	ACTIKERALL
Legal Class:	POM
Drug Class:	Actinic keratoses treatments
How Supplied:	Fluorouracil 0.5%, salicylic acid 10%
Price:	Soln, 25ml=£38.30.
Indications:	Topical treatment of slightly palpable and/or moderately thick hyperkeratotic actinic keratosis (grade I/II) in immunocompetent patients.
Adults:	Apply to lesion once daily for up to 12 weeks. Leave to dry to a film, do not cover; peel off film before reapplying. Max area to be treated at any one time, 25cm2. Optimal effect, up to 8 weeks after treatment.
Children:	Not recommended.

General Warnings for Fluorouracil + salicylic acid
Contraindications:	Renal impairment. Pregnancy, lactation.
Precautions:	Avoid contact with eyes and mucous membranes. Sensory disturbances (eg, diabetes). Areas with thin epidermis; apply less frequently and monitor closely. May stain textiles or acrylics.
Interactions:	Phenytoin, methotrexate, sulfonylureas.
Side Effects:	Local reactions, skin exfoliation, headache.

Cutaneous Drug Eruption, Indian Study

Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol. 2008 Jan-Feb;74(1):80.

Clinical study of cutaneous drug eruptions in 200 patients.  Free Full Text.

Raksha MP, Marfatia YS.

Source

Department of Skin and V. D, Medical College, Vadodara, India. [email protected]

Abstract

Two hundred patients (112 males and 88 females) with cutaneous drug eruption were studied. The aim was to recognize the offending drug, to evaluate mortality and morbidity, educate the patient and avoid self-administration and readministration of drugs. Fixed drug eruption was the commonest reaction, seen in 61 patients; other reactions being urticaria and angioedema,morbilliform rash in 37, pruritus in 25, Stevens Johnson Syndrome (SJS) in 6, purpura in 6, exfoliative dermatitis in 5,photosensitivity in 5, toxic epidermal necrolysis in 2, acneiform eruption in 3, erythema multiforme in 2. Maximum patients belonged to the age group 41-50, followed by 21-30 and 31-40 years. The youngest was 1 year old and the oldest was 80 years old. Period of development of lesion after intake of drug varied from 1 day to 45 days. Cotrimoxazole was the commonest drug, in 26 cases; followed by Ibuprofen in 20 cases. Free full text