Price changes over 2025 and 2026, tabulated and dated — does this still hold? posts 91–120
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1 · go to the accepted answer.
I had written a reply contradicting post #88 and deleted it. Here is what survived.
Price variation between pharmacies: identical prescriptions can cost different amounts at different pharmacies because pharmacies negotiate individually with insurers and manufacturers.
Larger orders shift risk as well as price, because more of your material then comes from one lot.
It cost nothing to check and would have cost something not to.
Post #94 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.
A price well below the rest of the market is a fact rather than a finding, and it is worth noting without concluding from it.
Coming back to post #92, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
Price differences within a market are usually about scale, documentation and logistics rather than about anything mysterious.
Two sources, same conclusion, and I could not rule out that one copied the other.
Marking my place. If it changes for me I will come back and say so.
Insurance tier placement: a compound might be covered but on a higher tier (higher copay). Moving to a lower tier usually requires prior authorization or documented failure of cheaper alternatives.
I would put this at better than even and not much better.
On post #99 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.
The bit of Price changes that nobody enjoys is that the answer changes depending on what you are trying to decide with it. Say what the decision is and the thread will converge.
Confirming post #100 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
Comparing a licensed product's price to a research-use-only preparation's price is comparing two different things, and the difference is most of the explanation.
Adding the measurement that post #103 says would settle it.
Reframing Price changes slightly, because I think the disagreement is about the question rather than the answer. If the question is "does it happen", yes. If it is "how often", nobody here knows.
Adding what did not work for me on Price changes, since the failures never get written up and they are half the useful information.
The cost of an independent submission is worth stating in these threads, because it is the main reason people do not do it.
That is a description of practice, not a recommendation of it.
Larger orders shift risk as well as price, because more of your material then comes from one lot.
Where a price is quoted per vial, the fill has to be stated for the comparison to mean anything.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Post #109 and I disagree about the size of the effect, not about the direction.
Reading back through the Price changes threads from last year, the same three questions come up every time and only one of them has ever been answered properly. That seems like a documentation gap rather than a knowledge gap.
Insurance tier placement: a compound might be covered but on a higher tier (higher copay). Moving to a lower tier usually requires prior authorization or documented failure of cheaper alternatives.
Noting that I have skin in this question and have tried to discount for it.
A cheaper option that arrives slowly has a cost in the form of running out, and people rarely price that.
Cost per milligram is the only comparison that survives format differences, but even then it needs care. A pen and a vial are not the same product and cannot be compared on price per milligram alone because dead volume, wastage, and number of doses actually obtainable differ.
Bookmarking this. I will come back when I have something worth adding.
Price differences within a market are usually about scale, documentation and logistics rather than about anything mysterious.
It took me longer than it should have to see that.
Two people in this thread mean different things by Price changes and are disagreeing about the definition while believing they are disagreeing about the facts. Worth pausing to define it.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
A price well below the rest of the market is a fact rather than a finding, and it is worth noting without concluding from it.