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At 08:54 PM 11/5/97 -0600, Len Leshin wrote:
Once a year, I poll three pharmacy chains and two independents in my area for pharm prices. Lorabid has traditionally been one of the cheaper in South Texas, being lower than Augmentin, generic Ceclor, and Biaxin. Pediazole and Zithromax have been cheaper than Lorabid. Vantin and Ceftin have been at the head of the class. (I personally had to take Cipro once; at $5 a pill, when one rolled under the refrigerator, I spent half an hour getting it back.)
I've found that once you get over 50 pounds of child, almost every antibiotic is pricey.
Len Leshin, MD, FAAP
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One of the advantages of Zithromax is that all size/concentration bottles are
supposed to be the same price. So 15 ml of the 100mg/5ml costs the same as 30 ml of the 200mg/5ml, making it no more expensive to treat a big kid than an infant. Not all pharmacies follow the rules, so my rep said to let him know if I know of a pharmacy charging more for a larger or more concentrated bottle.
One of the disadvantages, on the other hand, is that it doesn't seem to work clinically nearly as well as the fancy bacterial susceptibility charts the rep brings in would lead me to expect. Still, parents frequently ask for the "once a day for five day" antibiotic and the efficacy is O.K., if not stupendous.
Michael Sachs, M.D.
General Pediatrician