Abstract

Background: Depression is a disorder that disrupts the public health through factors such as its occurrence, distress, ill health, and economic burden. There is a wide variation in the prices of antidepressant drugs marketed in India. Aims and
Objective: To find out the price variations in the oral antidepressant drugs available in India either as a single drug or in combinationand toevaluate thedifferencesinthecost ofvarious brandsofthe same oral antidepressantdrugbycalculating thepercentagevariationincost inIndianrupees.MaterialsandMethods:Thecost ofa particulardrugbeingmanufactured by different companies, in the same strength and dosage forms, was obtained from ‘‘Current Index of Medical Specialties’’ July–October,2014,and ‘‘IndianDrugReview,2014;21(4)’’.Thedifferencebetweenthemaximumandminimumpricesofthe samedrugandthepercentagevariationinthepriceswascalculated.Result:Thepricesofatotalof25drugs(21singleand4 combination preparations) available in 66 different formulations were analyzed. In single drug therapy, among tricyclic antidepressants, reboxetine (2 mg) showed the maximum price variation of 900%. In atypical antidepressants, bupropion hydrochloride(150mg)showedthemaximumpricevariationof447.94%.Inselectiveserotoninreuptake inhibitors(SSRIs), paroxetine (37.5 mg) showed the maximum price variation of 1116.66%. In serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), Venlafaxine hydrochloride (37.5 mg) showed the maximum price variation of 246.15%. In monoamine oxidase (MAO)-A inhibitors, moclobemide (150 mg) showed the maximum price variation of 246.15%. In combination therapies, chlordiazepoxide with amitriptyline showed the maximum price variation of 227.23%. Conclusion: The average percentage variations of different brandsof the same drug manufactured in India is very wide. The management of themarketing drugs should be directed toward maximizing the therapeutic benefits to the community and minimizing the economic burden.