Can anyone here recommend a website for looking up drugs

[proud2BlibKansan]

I'm looking for a less expensive alternative to an expensive medication. Is there somewhere online I can find that information? If an alternative is available - I realize it may not be.

Thanks!

[CherokeeDem]

1. Two I use....

drugs.com and WebMD....

Sorry meant to also add...talk to your pharmacist...they should be able to answer that question quicker than you can find online...but if you Google the drug name plus alternatives...that might work.

[Old and In the Way]

2. You might start with Googling: "generic drug database"

There are lots of sites in that search that might help you with finding an equivalent.

[leveymg]

3. Try Physician's Desktop Reference, url>

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs

[gateley]

4. I've just Googled Levoxyl generic? for example, and that give me the info I need.

If you're looking for a DIFFERENT drug (not generic) that does the same thing, I'd Google "less costly alternative to Levoxyl?"

Good luck!

Or, call your pharmacy -- they'd know.

[bananas]

5. A couple of things...

1) Because of the ways drugs are regulated, even if you don't belong to Costco or Sam's Club, you can still get prescriptions there at a discount. A lot of workers, even some managers, don't know this.

2) Talk to the pharmacist, he may make some suggestions.

3) There are a lot of discussion boards about particular ailments and treatments, try searching for "leprosy message board" (or whatever ailment you have)

4) Try searching The People's Pharmacy http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/
which is run by a pharmacologist-anthropologist couple: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/about/

5) There used to be websites which would search for the best price, including from Canada or Mexico mail-order.
Don't know if they're still out there.

6) Doctor gave me a prescription, said it was really cheap, about 10 bucks. First pharmacy told me it was over $100. Went to a different pharmacy, they told me it was $15. So ask your doctor if it's really supposed to be that expensive, I don't know if the first pharmacist misread the prescription or what.

7) Sometimes the drug mfgrs give samples to doctors free. Ask if he can get you samples.

8) Also most mfgrs have programs where they provide drugs cheap if you're poor. Here's one link I just googled up: http://www.rxassist.org/default.cfm
Here's another: http://www.needymeds.org/

9) Target has lots of generics for $4: http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=pharmacy_generics&ref=nav_phrm_1_3

[hedgehog]

10. As a corollary: sometimes you pay extra to get a specific dosage or formulation -

the generic may be cheap, but if your doctor wrote the script for the extended release or continuous release version, you may be paying a lot more for something you don't need. (Then again - there may be a good reason for the more expensive formulation!) Sometimes a doctor will write a script say for 200 mg which is only available in an expensive version. Maybe you can get by with 2-100mg tablets instead. That's something your pharmacist should be able to help you with.

[Hoyt]

6. Last week I received a catalog from a Canadian pharmacy. The drug prices are a lot less than here.

Here is the link:

http://www.globalpharmacycanada.com/

They look legit to me, but I have not used them. Some of the major meds are 25% of the price here in the USA.

They require a prescription, but will even take a photo of the label from a medicine bottle.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. This is a great one:

It's geared toward people who find a mystery pill and want to ID it:

http://www.drugs.com/pill_identification.html

On edit:
I reread the OP and maybe that's not what you're trying to do, but the site could be useful to you too.

[Warpy]

8. Thyroid drugs are tricky things

and once you're set on a standard dosage of one brand, it's difficult to switch to another or a generic.

However, the generics all contain the same levothyroxine as the more expensive brand name drug. Just be aware that if you change, your blood levels might change, too, so you'll need blood work done a little more often and might need to change your dosage until you're stable again.

For other medications, the difference between brand name and generic isn't much, at all.

[hedgehog]

11. I can testify to this - most of my scripts are generic now,

but I have to stick with Synthroid to stay in range.

[brock78]

9. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)