1 October 2019 - Cash prices for prescription drugs vary widely in the United States.

Luo and colleagues have described cash price variation by retail pharmacy type for 10 generic and 6 brand name drugs throughout the United States and stratified by ZIP code.

Across 16 325 ZIP codes, 68 353 unique pharmacy stores contributed cash prices. When stratified by 5-digit ZIP code, the relative cash prices for generic drugs at big box, grocery-based, small chain, and independent pharmacies compared with those at large chain pharmacies were 0.52 (95% CI, 0.51 to 0.53), 0.82 (CI, 0.81 to 0.83), 1.51 (CI, 1.45 to 1.56), and 1.61 (CI, 1.58 to 1.64), respectively.

Read Annals of Internal Medicine article