Pakistan Medicine Price Monitor, October 2026
12 October 2026 | Dr. Aqeel Nasim, Clinical Pharmacist, MedInfoBase
One in five medicine packs in Pakistan got a new, higher official price between 1 August and 11 October 2026, and almost all rose by the same 4.9%. For the same medicine, the most expensive brand often costs 3 to 8 times the cheapest.
Key findings
- 4,120 medicine packs (20% of the 20,596 packs with an official price) got a new official price between 1 August and 11 October 2026: 4,119 rose and one fell.
- 95% of these rises were 4.9%, which is 70% of average inflation in FY2025-26 (July 2025 to June 2026, 7.05%). This is consistent with the rule in DRAP's 2018 Drug Pricing Policy for essential medicines. Another 199 rose by 6.9% to 7.2%, close to the full inflation rate.
- The brand you buy matters more than the yearly rise. For 20 common medicines, the most expensive brand costs 1.4 to 8.3 times the cheapest brand of the same medicine and strength.
- A common three-medicine treatment for diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol costs 1.5 days' wages a month at typical brand prices. By the WHO/HAI measure, anything over one day's wage is unaffordable for a worker on the minimum wage. With the cheapest brands it drops to 0.8 days.
Price changes
In every month almost every pack rose by 4.9%. The averages in the table are slightly higher because of the 199 rises close to 7%.
| Took effect in | Packs with a new price | Rose | Fell | Average change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | 2,825 | 2,824 | 1 | +5.0% |
| September 2026 | 664 | 664 | 0 | +5.1% |
| October 2026 (to 11 Oct) | 631 | 631 | 0 | +5.0% |
Of all 4,120 changes, 3,917 were between +4.86% and +5.02%, and 199 were between +6.94% and +7.21%. Under DRAP's 2018 Drug Pricing Policy, essential medicines may rise each year by up to 70% of average inflation (capped at 7%), and other medicines by up to full inflation (capped at 10%). Average inflation for July 2025 to June 2026 was 7.05%, so 70% of it is 4.94%.
Since February 2024 the government no longer fixes the prices of medicines outside the National Essential Medicines List (NEML). All 20 medicines in our affordability basket below are on Pakistan's NEML 2025, so their prices are still set under the 2018 rules. This report uses the official maximum prices published in the DRAP PharmaPrice Index. Every change is listed, pack by pack, on our medicine price changes page.
Same medicine, different price
For blood pressure (losartan), depression (fluoxetine), stomach acid (omeprazole) and anxiety (diazepam) the gap between the cheapest and the dearest brand is 7 to 8 times. A patient on losartan 50 mg pays about Rs 260 a month with the cheapest brand and Rs 2,163 with the dearest, for the same medicine and dose. The gap is smallest for co-amoxiclav (1.4 times); for metronidazole, atenolol and azithromycin it is about 2 times.
Affordability
A month of a cholesterol medicine alone costs more than one day's minimum wage at a typical brand price. Most other single medicines cost less than half a day, but patients with long-term illness usually take two or three together.
We use the WHO/Health Action International method: the cost of a standard treatment is divided by the daily wage of the lowest-paid worker. We use the minimum wage of Rs 40,700 a month announced in the 2026-27 budget, which is Rs 1,357 a day. A treatment costing more than one day's wage is counted as unaffordable. "Typical" is the median brand; "cheapest" and "dearest" are the lowest and highest brands of the same medicine and strength.
| Medicine | Treatment | Cost, typical brand (Rs) | Days' wages, typical | Days' wages, cheapest | Days' wages, dearest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gliclazide 80 mg tablet | 2 a day for 30 days | 585 | 0.43 | 0.25 | 0.78 |
| Metformin 500 mg tablet | 2 a day for 30 days | 166 | 0.12 | 0.06 | 0.20 |
| Glibenclamide 5 mg tablet | 2 a day for 30 days | 153 | 0.11 | 0.06 | 0.16 |
| Losartan 50 mg tablet | 1 a day for 30 days | 620 | 0.46 | 0.19 | 1.59 |
| Amlodipine 5 mg tablet | 1 a day for 30 days | 314 | 0.23 | 0.10 | 0.43 |
| Atenolol 50 mg tablet | 1 a day for 30 days | 211 | 0.16 | 0.13 | 0.27 |
| Atorvastatin 20 mg tablet | 1 a day for 30 days | 1,573 | 1.16 | 0.62 | 2.19 |
| Simvastatin 20 mg tablet | 1 a day for 30 days | 1,417 | 1.04 | 0.46 | 2.02 |
| Carbamazepine 200 mg tablet | 3 a day for 30 days | 974 | 0.72 | 0.19 | 0.72 |
| Fluoxetine 20 mg capsule | 1 a day for 30 days | 384 | 0.28 | 0.16 | 1.12 |
| Omeprazole 20 mg capsule | 1 a day for 30 days | 599 | 0.44 | 0.23 | 1.63 |
| Ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablet | 2 a day for 7 days | 600 | 0.44 | 0.18 | 0.79 |
| Co-amoxiclav 625 mg tablet | 2 a day for 7 days | 570 | 0.42 | 0.35 | 0.47 |
| Amoxicillin 500 mg capsule | 3 a day for 7 days | 419 | 0.31 | 0.13 | 0.32 |
| Azithromycin 500 mg tablet | 1 a day for 3 days | 254 | 0.19 | 0.10 | 0.22 |
| Metronidazole 400 mg tablet | 3 a day for 7 days | 66 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 0.06 |
| Paracetamol 500 mg tablet | 2 tablets 4 times a day for 3 days | 87 | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0.07 |
| Ibuprofen 400 mg tablet | 3 a day for 5 days | 53 | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.06 |
| Cetirizine 10 mg tablet | 1 a day for 10 days | 77 | 0.06 | 0.03 | 0.08 |
| Diazepam 5 mg tablet | 1 a day for 7 days | 9 | 0.01 | below 0.01 | 0.01 |
Three medicines together. A patient taking metformin, amlodipine and atorvastatin pays about Rs 2,053 a month at typical brand prices, which is 1.5 days' wages. With the cheapest brands it is Rs 1,056 (0.8 days); with the dearest it is Rs 3,818 (2.8 days). Brand choice decides whether this treatment is affordable.
What policymakers can do
The yearly rise appears to follow the published rules; the bigger burden is the gap between brands, which most patients have no easy way to compare.
- Make the cheapest equivalent brand visible. Require pharmacies to tell patients when a cheaper registered brand of the same medicine and strength is available, and publish a monthly list of the lowest-priced brands of essential medicines.
- Prescribe by generic name in public hospitals and programmes. This lets patients and pharmacists pick the lower-priced brand. Chronic-disease medicines (blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol) gain the most, because patients buy them every month.
- Publish the inflation figure used for each yearly rise. Our data shows the rises match 70% of the 7.05% inflation for essential medicines. A short public note from DRAP with each round would let anyone check this, and would show which medicines received the full 7.05%.
Method, limits and sources
- Prices: official maximum retail prices from the DRAP PharmaPrice Index, checked daily by MedInfoBase. What a pharmacy charges can be lower; availability on shelves is not measured.
- Price changes: the current price of each pack against its last earlier different price. Changes above +60% or below -50% are left out and checked by hand; none fell in that range in this period.
- Brand comparison: price per tablet or capsule, plain (not modified-release) forms only, one row per brand (its cheapest pack). Prices more than 4 times above or below the median are treated as data errors and left out, and so are packs whose DRAP text names a second active ingredient.
- Basket: 20 widely used medicines modelled on the WHO/HAI core list. All 20 are on Pakistan's National Essential Medicines List 2025, which is the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (24th list) notified by the Ministry of National Health Services on 20 October 2025: 16 by name, and glibenclamide, atenolol, atorvastatin and cetirizine as listed therapeutic alternatives.
- Treatments: standard adult courses chosen for comparison only, not prescribing advice.
- Not covered: how medicines whose prices are no longer fixed appear in the DRAP index; and whether the official "lowest-paid government worker" wage differs from the minimum wage used here.
Sources
- DRAP, National Essential Medicine Lists
- Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination: notification F.No.8-43/2021-DD(PS), National Essential Medicines List 2025 (20 October 2025)
- Profit: Govt approves deregulation of medicine prices outside NEML (7 February 2024)
- The News: 55pc drug prices went up after deregulation, DRAP survey (8 May 2026)
- TechJuice: FY26 average CPI inflation 7.05%, PBS (1 July 2026)
- Daily Pakistan: minimum wage raised to Rs 40,700 in Budget 2026-27 (12 June 2026)
Free to quote with credit: "Pakistan Medicine Price Monitor, MedInfoBase (medinfobase.com), October 2026". For the data or questions, contact MedInfoBase.