Sunday, September 20, 2009

Pharmaceutical Mathematics

So today's question is:

If a 40mg tablet costs $x how much does a 20mg tablet of the same drug cost?

In the case of Astrazeneca's nexium the answer is a surprising $x.

So why don't people buy the 40mg tablets and split them? Well apparently they are not designed to be split like that.

I suppose we are supposed to be happy that Astrazeneca have decided those that need a large dose of their drug should be subsidised by those requiring a smaller dose.

I'm wondering how prevalent this sort of pricing is.

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