Same medicine, different price: brand price dispersion in Pakistan's official DRAP price list

Research Brief MIB-RB-2026-001 · version 1.0 · published 27 October 2026 · MedInfoBase Research Team

For the identical strength, form and pack, the dearest brand costs at least twice the cheapest in 38% of multi-brand presentations, and ten times or more in 13 of them.

Abstract

Pakistan regulates medicine prices through maximum retail prices notified by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), yet many medicines are sold by dozens of brands. This brief measures how far official prices differ between brands of the identical presentation: the same generic medicine, strength, dosage form and pack size. Using the verified official price of 20,597 validated packs as of 27 October 2026, we identified 653 presentations supplied by five or more brands. In 250 of them (38%) the dearest brand carried an official price at least twice that of the cheapest; in 41 the ratio was five or more; in 13 it was ten or more. After screening out implausible outliers, the widest gaps were ondansetron 8 mg tablets in a pack of 10 (36 brands, PKR 283 to PKR 5,158, an 18.2-fold spread), letrozole 2.5 mg tablets in a pack of 10 (26 brands, PKR 1,347 to PKR 23,973, 17.8-fold), amlodipine 5 mg tablets in a pack of 20 (37 brands, PKR 88 to PKR 1,518, 17.2-fold), rivaroxaban 10 mg tablets in a pack of 10 (23 brands, PKR 700 to PKR 9,956, 14.2-fold) and losartan 50 mg tablets in a pack of 20 (22 brands, PKR 173 to PKR 1,944, 11.2-fold). These are differences in the officially permitted price of pharmacologically equivalent packs, and they are large enough to matter for household budgets and public procurement.

Key findings

• 653 presentations in the validated catalogue are supplied by five or more brands with a verified official price.
• In 250 of these (38%), the dearest brand is priced at least twice the cheapest. In 41 the ratio is five-fold or more, and in 13 it is ten-fold or more. The average dearest-to-cheapest ratio across all 653 is 2.38.
• Ondansetron 8 mg tablets (pack of 10): 36 brands, official prices from PKR 283 to PKR 5,158, an 18.2-fold spread.
• Letrozole 2.5 mg tablets (pack of 10): 26 brands, PKR 1,347 to PKR 23,973, a 17.8-fold spread.
• Amlodipine 5 mg tablets (pack of 20): 37 brands, PKR 88 to PKR 1,518, a 17.2-fold spread.
• Rivaroxaban 10 mg tablets (pack of 10): 23 brands, PKR 700 to PKR 9,956, a 14.2-fold spread.
• Losartan 50 mg tablets (pack of 20): 22 brands, PKR 173 to PKR 1,944, an 11.2-fold spread.
• Wide spreads occur across therapeutic classes: an anti-sickness medicine, a breast-cancer hormone treatment, two blood-pressure medicines and an anticoagulant all appear in the top five.

Method

Prices are the verified official maximum retail prices (PKR per pack) notified by DRAP and held in the MedInfoBase record as of 27 October 2026, restricted to published products that have passed identity validation. A presentation is defined by generic medicine, strength, dosage form and pack size, compared case-insensitively, so the comparison is strictly like-for-like and never compares a small pack with a large one. For each presentation supplied by five or more brands we computed the cheapest, dearest and median official price and the dearest-to-cheapest ratio. The distribution counts (653, 250, 41, 13) are reported before any screening. For the named examples, presentations were excluded where the cheapest price was below one-eighth of the median or the dearest above 25 times the median, since such values usually reflect a pack-size or unit-of-sale inconsistency rather than a real price. Intravenous fluids were excluded throughout for the same reason.

Limitations

These are official maximum retail prices, not the prices charged at pharmacies, which may be lower. The brief does not assess differences in origin, manufacturing standard or market perception between brands, which may explain part of the spread. Pack-size and strength text is entered by the regulator and by manufacturers and may contain inconsistencies that place a pack in the wrong group; the outlier screen reduces but cannot eliminate this. The record covers the validated subset of the DRAP list, not every registered product. Figures are a snapshot and will change as DRAP notifies new prices; the live report on this site is updated automatically.

Data availability

The live, continuously updated version of this analysis is the Brand price-gap report. A dated CSV of all current official prices, and of all recorded price changes, can be downloaded from the Observatory data page. Source data: Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.

Brand price-gap report (live) Download the data

How to cite

Keywords: medicine prices; Pakistan; DRAP; brand price dispersion; generic competition; maximum retail price. Free to read, share and cite with attribution. Numbers are a dated snapshot; the live reports on this site update automatically. Corrections: see our corrections policy.

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