Privately prescribed prescriptions with no mark-up on the cost of medicines will be dispensed by a high-street pharmacy, it has been announced.
All pharmacies should follow suit on the estimated five million private prescriptions issued each year, Superdrug has urged.
A prescription of four Viagra 100mg will now be £4.70 cheaper, down from £28.20 to £23.50, while an 84-tablet course of Propecia hair loss treatment will cost £17.88 less, and the price of contraceptive Yasmin will be reduced from £47.75 to £31.63.
Superdrug superintendent pharmacist Martin Crisp said: “In the past, privately prescribed medicines have been priced as though any other product. However, we believe that medicines prescribed by a doctor, whether private or on the NHS, should be treated in the same way.
“We are changing our system to be more transparent. There are hundreds of thousands of private prescriptions issued every year and if everyone joined us and changed the way private prescriptions are priced this could save Britons tens of millions every year.”
The new pricing will be available in Superdrug stores immediately.
It will apply to all products dispensed under a private prescription, including IVF and cancer drugs, anti-malarials and antibiotics.
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