Cheapest antihistamines for hay fever

As I look out of my window today the sun is shining, summer is almost upon us and of course the hay fever season is about to start. For intermittent or mild symptoms we would recommend non sedating anti histamines like loratadine or cetirizine. At the weekend I was in Sainsbury’s doing our weekly shop and I was surprised at how cheap they are. In Sainsbury’s on Saturday 14 loratadine cost £1. This compares to an NHS prescription charge of £7.20. At Lloyds pharmacy they charge £6.69 for 30 loratadine tablets.



I have searched the internet and the Money Saving Expert website has this very useful table that lists the costs of branded and generic anti-histamines. Branded drugs have a trade name and manufactured by well established drugs companies. Brand names are usually simpler than the generic name e.g. Clarityn, Zirtek. Generic drugs are the bioequivalent of a branded drug and the generic name is the actual chemical name of the drug. In the practice we usually prescribe drugs by their generic name as they are usually cheaper. In this table you can see that they are actually much cheaper:



The Cheapest Hayfever Tablets

Packs of 7 tablets unless stated

Active Ingredient

Cheapest Branded

Cheapest Generic

Cetirizine Dihydrochloride (Zirtek)

Superdrug: £1.89 (14-pack)
Tesco: £3
Sainsbury:
Morrisons: £2.99 (14 pack)
Boots: £3.29

Boots: 99p
Asda:£1 (14-pack)
Superdrug: £2.34 (14)
Tesco: £1 (14)
Sainsburys: 98p

Loratadine
(Clarityn)

Boots: £2.99
Superdrug: £3.09
ASDA: £2.98
Tesco: £3
Sainbury: £2.54

Superdrug: £2.34 (14)
Tesco: 96p
Morrisons: 83p
ASDA: 98p
Sainsbury: 80p

Chlorophenamine
(Piriton)

Boots (30 pk): £3.29

Boots: £2.99 (pack of 30)

Acrivastine (Benadryl)

Morrisons: £2.99 (pack of 12)
Tesco: £4 (pack of 12)
Sainsbury: £4.09

N/A

Prices last updated March 2010 http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/cheap-hayfever-remedies

So if you need hay fever medication and pay for your prescriptions it will be cheaper to get them with your weekly shopping!

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