What Happened with Doxycycline cost?

[Joe RA]

I called up Walmart to refill my Doxycycline prescription and was told that the Doxycycline is no longer $10.00 and that it will cost me over $400.00 without insurance and that I should bring my insurance card in with me when I pick up the Doxy today, I have been in remission and have’nt checked in here for many months, or is this unknown here at the Road Back as well. ….RA Joe….

[mary77]

Joe,
My pharmacist told me several months ago that Doxy was getting difficult to find and that the cost was going up significantly. He did not know WHY…maybe someone else will fill in the blanks on this issue.
Mary

[Maz]

Hi Joe,

Here’s a link to this issue:

http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2013/02/fda-reports-shortage-of-doxycycline-antibiotic-what-are-your-options.html

For the first time, my pharmacy also had to get pre-approval from my insurance carrier for my monthly refill, so I’m wondering what I’ll do as I think tetracycline is also still hard to obtain and I am unable to use minocycline.

Joe! So happy to hear you’re in sustained remission!!! 😀 Any chance of a testimonial in the works? 😉

[PhilC]

Hi Joe,

Be sure to call around, because I read on another forum that someone got his doxy filled at Walgreens and it only cost him $10. Walmart, on the other hand, wanted several hundred, and K-Mart wanted $700. However, that was (I believe) back in March, so the situation may have changed by now.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[Maz]

That’s good info, Phil. I got my script from Walgreens, last week, after it was approved by my insurance company and I only had the $10 co-pay, thank goodness. It’s horrible that when shortages occur like this that the price becomes so inflated.

Another alternative is to try to get doxy from a compounding pharmacist for anyone unable to use minocycline, though this, too, could be more costly. Or, to try a Canadian online pharmacy. Buy Low Drugs is offering generic doxycycline hyclate for $86 for 100 caps. Still high, but better than $700 for those with little choice.

http://www.buylowdrugs.com/search.php?searchterm=doxycycline

Seems the shortages are due to high demand and pharmaceuticals not keeping up with this demand. Teva and Watson in the US are both in the same boat, according to the link re: tetracycline shortage:

http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2012/08/is-there-a-tetracycline-shortage.html

[PhilC]

Hi Maz,
@Maz wrote:

For the first time, my pharmacy also had to get pre-approval from my insurance carrier for my monthly refill, so I’m wondering what I’ll do as I think tetracycline is also still hard to obtain and I am unable to use minocycline.

One possibility is demeclocycline, one of the Marshall Protocol antibiotics. It is a chloro-substituted derivative of minocycline. Unfortunately, I read that even generic demeclocycline is very expensive (one person mentioned $10 a pill). Another possibility is oxytetracycline (brand name: Terramycin). Of the two, that might be the better option. Of course, I’d only pursue this if doxycycline became unavailable or prohibitively expensive, and I couldn’t take minocycline for some reason.

Purely out of curiosity, I just checked an online pharmacy (located in India) that some people order naltrexone tablets from to see what their price is for doxycycline. They are selling ten 100 mg capsules of doxy for $1.12. That makes me suspect that the shortage of doxycycline is not worldwide, which is contrary to what my reseach originally led me to believe.

Phil

"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
- Albert Einstein

[Maz]

@PhilC wrote:

One possibility is demeclocycline, one of the Marshall Protocol antibiotics. It is a chloro-substituted derivative of minocycline. Unfortunately, I read that even generic demeclocycline is very expensive (one person mentioned $10 a pill). Another possibility is oxytetracycline (brand name: Terramycin). Of the two, that might be the better option. Of course, I’d only pursue this if doxycycline became unavailable or prohibitively expensive, and I couldn’t take minocycline for some reason.

Purely out of curiosity, I just checked an online pharmacy (located in India) that some people order naltrexone tablets from to see what their price is for doxycycline. They are selling ten 100 mg capsules of doxy for $1.12. That makes me suspect that the shortage of doxycycline is not worldwide, which is contrary to what my reseach originally led me to believe.

Unfortunately, I fear that as a “derivative” of minocycline, I would be concerned with the DILE problem. I know I’m fine on doxy and tetra, but to risk another reaction like I had before is not a pleasant thought. 🙁 I think I’d buy from Canada or try to get it compounded first.

Doesn’t it make you sick to know just how cheap these drugs are to make and the whopping price hikes that are put on them.

[Author]

Posts