SUMMARY
Purpose:
To evaluate the monthly cost of antiglaucomatous drugs available in Brazil.
Material and Methods:
Twenty antiglaucomatous drug preparations were obtainedfrom the local manufacturers or were bought at a local drugstore. Five bottles of each preparation were used. Five drops of each bottle were dispensed and their volumes measured by the same examiner using a micropipette. The mean drop volume was calculated. Based on these data, on the volume of the bottles and on their prices, the authors calculated: days of therapy per bottle, cost of one drop, drops per bottle and monthly drug cost. The only tablet presentation (Diamox(tm)) had its costs calculated based on the number of tablets per box.
Results:
Among the betablockers, the Betoptic S^mpreparation was the most expensive (R$ 9.78/eye/month), where as Timolol(tm) 0.25%c, Timoptol(tm) 0.25%c and 0.50%o were the less expensive (R$ 2.10/eye/month). Among the new drugs, Alphagan(tm), lopidine(tm) and Trusopt(tm) had costs between R$ 13.02 and R$ 15.60/eye/month when used b.i.d. and between R$ 19.53 and R$ 23.40/eye when used t.i.d. The Xalatan(tm) preparation had a monthly cost of R$ 20.60/eye.
Conclusions:
Drug costs may be influenced by factors other than the net bottle costs, such as posology, drop size and bottle volume. Some drug associations were found to be expensive when compared to the minimal national salary.
Keywords:
Monthly cost; Drugs; Glaucoma; Therapy