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Helping Americans Get The Truth About Prescription Drug Savings
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How to Save 87% On Advair Diskus

Advair Diskus is one of the most popular brand name drugs for the treatment of asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). It combines fluticasone, an inhaled corticosteroid, and salmeterol a long acting beta antagonist (LABA). With over 25 million Americans suffering from asthma, and an estimated annual cost of $3,300 per person, asthma patients are looking for any way possible to save.1

Advair Diskus costs $834 for a three-month supply at a local pharmacy in the U.S. Annualized, that’s over $2,500! While discount cards and coupons can help you save on Advair if you want to buy it from your local pharmacy, there are much larger savings online. Discount cards and coupons offer about 5% and 4% savings respectively. Ordering from a credentialed online pharmacy can save you over 87%.That’s over $2,900 per year.

If you need Advair immediately, and can’t wait 2 weeks or so to receive your medicine in the mail, then shop locally. When it’s time to refill, the best savings are by far found online. Just make sure you order from a verified, online pharmacy, such as those listed on PharmacyChecker.com. Whatever you do, don’t stop taking your medicine.

We’ve made a chart to show you the savings offered through various programs. Take a look below:

Savings on three-month supply of Advair 250-50 mcg

Program Price Savings over Local Pharmacy Percent savings
U.S. Local Pharmacy $834
Discount Card Option $789.36 $44.64 5.4%
Discount Coupon Option $797.61 $36.39 4.4%
U.S. Online Pharmacy $759.90 $74.10 8.9%
International Online Pharmacy $108 $726 87.1%

Local pharmacy in New York City, International Online Pharmacy price as found on PharmacyChecker.com. Prices collected 10/29/2012

And for your own convenience, here are links to pricing pages for all strengths of Advair. Happy savings, and stay healthy!

Advair Diskus 100-50 mcg
Advair Diskus 250-50 mcg
Advair Diskus 500-50 mcg


1American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology, http://www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/asthma-statistics.aspx

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Online Pharmacy or Discount Card? The Choice Isn’t So Clear

Prescription drug costs in the U.S. remain high, and consumers are constantly looking for ways to save. We recommend verified online pharmacies, such as those listed on PharmacyChecker.com.

However, if you need your medication immediately, an online or mail order pharmacy won’t cut it. Luckily, there are many other options to save; for example, many chain drug stores offer low cost generics and manufacturers offer coupons for their products.

Discount drug cards also offer savings and can be used in pharmacies across the United States for a wide variety of brand name and generic drugs. They seem like the perfect solution if you need medicine right away – just print the drug card, bring it to your local pharmacy, and count the savings!

But just because they can be used quickly, doesn’t mean they offer the best price on your medicine. Different drug cards carry different discounts. While one offers 70% savings on a drug, say Lipitor, another card might not have any savings at all.

There is no way to easily find the best price among different drug cards, and for some you can’t even find out the price of your medicine until you have a prescription. We investigated the prices for three different drugs for three different cards and compared them to the cash price at a local pharmacy and prices from PharmacyChecker.com-approved international online pharmacies.

As shown below, we found the average savings using the lowest-cost online pharmacy was 82%, but savings averaged only 23% across the discount drug cards. We recommend using a PharmacyChecker.com-approved online international pharmacy for brand name medications and for many generics. If you need a medicine right away, though, it’s best to print out a few drug cards and head down to the local pharmacy.

Drug Prices Using Prescription Cards vs. Online Pharmacy

Drug Bricks and Mortar Pharmacy* RxFreeCard.com EasyDrugCard.com RxSavingsPlus.com PharmacyChecker.com-approved Online Pharmacy**
Lipitor 40 mg (30) $225.99 $184.68 $178.09 $189.64 $35.00
Plavix 75 mg (30) $257.99 $214.00 $203.85 $216.74 $49.20
Simvastatin 40 mg (30) (Generic Zocor) $49.99 $4.00 $13.36 $33.30 $12.30

*Local Pharmacy in New York City, prices collected 8/20/2012
**Lowest price as listed on PharmacyChecker.com on 8/23/2012

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