Medication cost and availability in Thailand

[sirineou]

I am sure the question has being answered before, but we all know how easy the search function in this forum is LOL

Anyway I am under three  medications, Atorvastatin, for cholesterol, Lisinopril for blood pressure, and Omappresol for my stomach. 

I get my medications from my insurance in at 30 day refills, I  think I can get a 90 day refill if i asked and provided a reason.

In the past,  a 90 day prescription was not a problem because due  to to work I traveled back and forth often, Now that i retired, as soon as the pandemic allowed we hope to return to Thailand on a more permanent basis. 

So the question is, how available are the above medications there (since they are common I am sure they are widely available ) how easy it is to obtain without a prescription , or will I need to get a prescription  from a Thai doctor. and how much do they cost,  because if they are not expensive and are easy to get, it might nor be worth it to make arrangements to get more from the US.

Thank you all in advance.   

Edited January 25, 2021 by sirineou

[Jingthing]

Quote

Atorvastatin, for cholesterol, Lisinopril for blood pressure, 

No scrip. Very cheap generics available everywhere. Don't know about the stomach one. 

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

No scrip. Very cheap generics available everywhere. Don't know about the stomach one. 

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor  (PPI) to treat excessive acid,  and I am sure also widely available.

Ok good to know, I will not worry about the medications then, now if we could do something about the Quarantine ,    LOL 

Thank you for that reply ???? 

[Tmoney]

Atorvastatin is freely available from chains such as Morya pharmacy, 2,300 baht for a box of 30 tabs.

Simvastatin 5mg (a possible alternative for you) is also freely available and much cheaper at 450 baht for a box of 100.

You could always go to a state hospital, see a doctor show him your meds. and he will provide a prescription and you could get the meds. then from the hospital pharmacy which is probably cheaper than a retail pharmacy.

Sorry, can't help with the others.

[landtrout]

 Omeprazole is available at all pharmacies that I'm familiar with under several different brand names. The one that I purchase is called "Miracid", and a two week course of 20 mg capsules will run you around 75 baht on average.

 

 I'm not familiar with atorvastatin, but simvastatin (branded as "Bestatin") is also available everywhere (without prescription) in 5, 10 or 20 mg tablets. As Tmoney says: less than 5 baht/tablet.

 

 I've never priced lisinopril, but amlodipine (a calcium channel blocker, also used to control blood pressure) is available without prescription and similarly priced.

 

 In my experience, hospital pharmacies are FAR more expensive than retail pharmacies!

[gargamon]

Generics are your friend. You mention 3 types of drugs, a statin (atorvastatin or Lipitor), a proton pump inhibitor(PPI - Omeprazole) and a blood pressure drug. The statin and PPI have many versions from different companies but all accomplish the same thing and are essentially interchangable. For example, my first world insurance won't pay the excessive price for PPI's Omeprazole or Lansoprazole and insist on using Pantoprazole instead. The same applies to the statins.

 

Find a pharmacist you trust and ask what the local PPI or statin is that is predominately used in Thailand. This will be much cheaper than the ones you mentioned.

 

Blood pressure meds are more complicated, sometimes needing multiple drugs and dosage changes. These should be monitored by a Doctor and they should indicate what to use. A local Doctor would be able to prescribe what is used locally.

[JAS21]

When I was on Atorvastatin I was paying 22.7 each ...can't remember the dosage though

Now on Rosuvastatin and am paying 21.5 each ...think it is 20mg...will check and correct tomorrow.

Also on Titrace (Ramipril) which is an ACE inhibitor. I buy 5mg and break in half ...I think 1370 for a box of 100  will check and correct tomorrow

 

I buy the first two from Chulabhorn Hospital and the Titrace from a Pharmacy in Ngam Wong Wan Road.

 

I was on Simvastatin 40mg when I came here but kept complaining about aches and pains so got changed to 'as above',  have been on a statin since 1993. 

[Sheryl]

All 3 drugs are available without prescription.  Atorvostatin costs  more and has fewer brands than simvastatin. Lisinopril ditto compared to Enalapril. May be worth asking your doctor if you can switch these 2

  

[JAS21]

12 hours ago, JAS21 said:

When I was on Atorvastatin I was paying 22.7 each ...can't remember the dosage though

Now on Rosuvastatin and am paying 21.5 each ...think it is 20mg...will check and correct tomorrow.

Also on Titrace (Ramipril) which is an ACE inhibitor. I buy 5mg and break in half ...I think 1370 for a box of 100  will check and correct tomorrow

 

I buy the first two from Chulabhorn Hospital and the Titrace from a Pharmacy in Ngam Wong Wan Road.

 

I was on Simvastatin 40mg when I came here but kept complaining about aches and pains so got changed to 'as above',  have been on a statin since 1993. 

Rosuvastatin is 20mg Sandoz company

 

Titrace last price 1150thb for box of 100 5mg

[ivor bigun]

much cheaper at a govt hospital just back from Chonburi heart hospital Ommeparosal is one of my drugs 158 baht for 105 tabs . 3 months supply

[ivor bigun]

18 hours ago, landtrout said:

 Omeprazole is available at all pharmacies that I'm familiar with under several different brand names. The one that I purchase is called "Miracid", and a two week course of 20 mg capsules will run you around 75 baht on average.

 

 I'm not familiar with atorvastatin, but simvastatin (branded as "Bestatin") is also available everywhere (without prescription) in 5, 10 or 20 mg tablets. As Tmoney says: less than 5 baht/tablet.

 

 I've never priced lisinopril, but amlodipine (a calcium channel blocker, also used to control blood pressure) is available without prescription and similarly priced.

 

 In my experience, hospital pharmacies are FAR more expensive than retail pharmacies!

only private hospitals are ,govt ones far far far cheaper than anywhere else ,i get eyedrops for pressure in the eyes from Queen Sirakit at Satahip ,795 baht for one month ,at farcino 1580 baht ,at Samitivit over 2500 baht . just got 3 months of meds 6 different types  from Chonburi just under 1500 baht including omeprazol go to a govt hospital

[ivor bigun]

7 minutes ago, ivor bigun said:

much cheaper at a govt hospital just back from Chonburi heart hospital Ommeparosal is one of my drugs 158 baht for 105 tabs . 3 months supply

sorry about my spooling of the drug????

[sirineou]

9 hours ago, Sheryl said:

All 3 drugs are available without prescription.  Atorvostatin costs  more and has fewer brands than simvastatin. Lisinopril ditto compared to Enalapril. May be worth asking your doctor if you can switch these 2

  

Thank you for that, I have a call to him as we talk, he happens to be a family friend and I am sure he would help as much as possible. 

Also I have pretty good insurance in the US, and I pay almost nothing for them.($7 for a 30 day supply for all of them)  So I am going to ask him if he can increase the dosage of the Atavostatin from 20 mg to 40 mg and I split them, that way I can generate a larger reserve.

I wonder what the regulations are for bringing a few months prescriptions  of these medications with me, or even having them mailed to me.  I Googled it and it says I can only bring a 30 day supply, I wonder if I can have that 30 day supply mailed to me by my daughter, or sister, how strict is the 30 day supply enforced, as I said I can extend the 30 day by doubling the dosage and after arrival splitting it. 

Most likely I will bring as much as I am allowed,and buy the rest in Thailand.    but I always like to know what my options are. 

I appreciate all the replies, a lot of good information

Thank you all!!????

[sirineou]

3 hours ago, ivor bigun said:

only private hospitals are ,govt ones far far far cheaper than anywhere else ,i get eyedrops for pressure in the eyes from Queen Sirakit at Satahip ,795 baht for one month ,at farcino 1580 baht ,at Samitivit over 2500 baht . just got 3 months of meds 6 different types  from Chonburi just under 1500 baht including omeprazol go to a govt hospital

At these prices it might not be worth the risk and trouble of bringing any more than a 30 day supply.

[sirineou]

FYI

I just re-discovered (I was told that before but had forgotten) that using google to search TVF, for example the Google query "Thai Visa Forum  bringing medication to Thailand " or any other question brings a lot better results than searching TVF directly.  

I am going through them as we ????. 

[Sheryl]

13 hours ago, sirineou said:

Thank you for that, I have a call to him as we talk, he happens to be a family friend and I am sure he would help as much as possible. 

Also I have pretty good insurance in the US, and I pay almost nothing for them.($7 for a 30 day supply for all of them)  So I am going to ask him if he can increase the dosage of the Atavostatin from 20 mg to 40 mg and I split them, that way I can generate a larger reserve.

I wonder what the regulations are for bringing a few months prescriptions  of these medications with me, or even having them mailed to me.  I Googled it and it says I can only bring a 30 day supply, I wonder if I can have that 30 day supply mailed to me by my daughter, or sister, how strict is the 30 day supply enforced, as I said I can extend the 30 day by doubling the dosage and after arrival splitting it. 

Most likely I will bring as much as I am allowed,and buy the rest in Thailand.    but I always like to know what my options are. 

I appreciate all the replies, a lot of good information

Thank you all!!????

The law is 30 days only and you can"t import by mail without an import license from the FDA.

 

In practice they don't quibble over amount coming in as long as it looks at a glance cobsistent with petsonal use. And in practice small quantities sent by regular mail (not a courier) usually get through.

 

But just the postage will likely cost more than the price of these drugs in Thailand.

[ivor bigun]

50 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

The law is 30 days only and you can"t import by mail without an import license from the FDA.

 

In practice they don't quibble over amount coming in as long as it looks at a glance cobsistent with petsonal use. And in practice small quantities sent by regular mail (not a courier) usually get through.

 

But just the postage will likely cost more than the price of these drugs in Thailand.

yes ,do not use a courier ,just ordinary mail.

[sirineou]

9 hours ago, Sheryl said:

But just the postage will likely cost more than the price of these drugs in Thailand.

That makes good economic sense. 

I think I will bring  three months use with me, double the dosage so I can cut them in half and stretch the three months into 6 months and simply purchase the rest in Thailand. 

Or perhaps If can stop being so cheap I will buy the whole thing in Thailand ????

Edited January 27, 2021 by sirineou

[Lacessit]

11 minutes ago, sirineou said:

That makes good economic sense. 

I think I will bring  three months use with me, double the dosage so I can cut them in half and stretch the three months into 6 months and simply purchase the rest in Thailand. 

Or perhaps If can stop being so cheap I will buy the whole thing in Thailand ????

I have had to adapt, since I can no longer access the PBS in Australia. I used to bring six months of meds from there, ran out last August.

My most expensive medication here is Co-Diovan for blood pressure, 840 baht for a month's supply. I'd say all up, I am shelling out about 1500 baht a month for 3-4 medications. IMO quite tolerable.

[connda]

Try going to you local government hospital and getting the generics for the conditions you have. 
Or
Go to any Thai pharmacy and ask for the generic equivalents. 

You do not need insurance for the drugs you're taking.  They are affordable here in Thailand.

And you certainly don't need out-patient insurance here.  500 to 750 for a doctor's visit.  In most Western countries that's a cheap co-pay.

Edited January 27, 2021 by connda

[kwilco]

On 1/25/2021 at 3:28 PM, Tmoney said:

Atorvastatin is freely available from chains such as Morya pharmacy, 2,300 baht for a box of 30 tabs.

cost in UK for 30 20mg is around £7.50

Edited April 22 by kwilco

[kwilco]

The OP is some time ago.

 

However anyone hoping to live long term in Thailand should be better employed finding out the cost of full healthcover.