A newspaper in Cleburne, Texas, outside Dallas, has published an excellent illustration of a point we’ve been making since we launched eDrugSearch.com: it’s well worth the effort to comparison shop for prescription drugs. An excerpt from the article:

Seven local pharmacies were contacted in an effort to discover what an uninsured consumer would pay for four random, common prescription medications. None of the 28 total prices reported by the pharmacies were equal in amount. One of the prescriptions varied in price by more than $39 depending on where it was filled.

The medications inquired about were a 250/50mcg Advair Diskus inhaler, used to treat asthma-related conditions; 0.5mg Alprazolam, the generic form of Xanax, used to reduce anxiety; 50mg Tramadol, the generic form of Ultram, a pain reliever; and 20mg Lexapro, an antidepressant.

The price of one 250/50mcg Advair Diskus inhaler, used to treat asthma-related conditions, at Keene Pharmacy is set at $201.10 while Kroger’s pharmacy sells the same inhaler for $240.79. At Wal-Mart Supercenter’s pharmacy, a 30-day supply of the pain reliever Tramadol is $4 but it sells for $28.50 at Cleburne Drug.

Some of the pharmacies can afford to sell generic forms of brand name medications at a fixed low price, such as Wal-Mart’s $4 prescription program. .. Kroger has a similar $4 program for generics. Although the cost of an Advair Diskus at Kroger was high compared with other pharmacy prices, Kroger sells Tramadol for $24.50, less than the identical dose and form sold at Cleburne Drug…

Walgreens and CVS, both well-known pharmacies across the U.S., were two of the more expensive pharmacies for the uninsured of the seven local pharmacies contacted. Both … offer saving cards for the uninsured. An uninsured consumer would pay more than $17 less for a 30 day supply of Lexapro, which has no generic form, and $29 less for the Advair Diskus, which also has no generic, with a Walgreens saving card…

If you click the links in the excerpt above, you’ll see a comparison of prices for these medications at eDrugSearch.com member pharmacies. You’ll find that:

• The 250/50mcg Advair Diskus inhaler is available for less than $70 at several pharmacies;
• 50mg Tramadol is available for about half of Wal-Mart’s price, if bought in quantity;
• 20mg Lexapro is available for between $1.50 and $2 per tablet, also significantly less than Wal-Mart and other U.S. retailers;
• The fourth drug, a controlled substance, is not sold through eDrugSearch.com member pharmacies.

In other words, if you can find the drug at eDrugSearch.com, you can probably buy it for a lot less than anywhere in Cleburne, Texas — or at any brick-and-mortar drugstore in the U.S., for that matter.

So please, comparison shop — but don’t forget to include licensed online pharmacies in your search.