The report uses Gilead’s HIV drug, Truvada, to show how discounted prices often aren’t related to how much a drug costs to acquire.
A brand-name version of Truvada costs about $1,840 per month. Using Prime Rx, a generic version of the drug costs $1,566.50 per month, and using GoodRx, the generic version costs $112 per month.
But at Blueberry Pharmacy, a cash-only pharmacy in Pittsburgh that doesn’t use pharmacy benefit managers and offers medications at prices in line with their actual cost of acquisition, a monthly supply of generic Truvada is just over $25.
Amazon’s Prime Rx program is partially owned by Express Scripts, a PBM. GoodRx primarily earns its revenue from PBMs that manage formularies and prescription transactions, according to 46brooklyn. Because GoodRx’s discount prices are set by PBMs, they aren’t necessarily market-based, meaning they don’t reflect the actual cost of the drug.
Read 46brooklyn’s full analysis here.
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