METHODOLOGY
Here’s an illustrated introduction to the ‘Apples To Apples’ methodology which has been used for drug price comparisons throughout this site.
Plotted on the left are drug prices at several pharmacies. This shows how much more expensive each medication is.
Plotted on the right is how many times more expensive each medication is compared to the Pharma1 pharmacy baseline. For this example Pharma2 charges 1.14x up to 2x more than Pharma1. For further details read below 😉
Collect pharmacy drug prices for the same medicine, dosage and quantity*. An ‘apples to apples’ comparison.
Select (Pharma1) as the baseline. Plot how many times more expensive Pharma2 is than Pharma1.
CALCULATION
The baseline is always 1 since (Pharma1($))/(Pharma1($)) = 1.
1. MedA is $4 at Pharma2 and $2 at Pharma1.
- $4/$2 = 2; the Pharma2 price is 2x (2 times) more expensive.
- The orange line plots 2 for MedA.
2. MedB is $7 at Pharma2 and $5 at Pharma1.
- $7/$5 = 1.4; the Pharma2 price is 1.4x (1.4 times) more expensive.
- The orange line plots 1.4 for MedB.
3. MedC is $8 at Pharma2 and $7 at Pharma1.
- $8/$7 = 1.14; the Pharma2 price is 1.14x (1.14 times) more expensive.
- The orange line plots 1.14 for MedC.
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