Generic Viagra?

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) medications have always carried a very high price tag. Today, drugs such as Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra will cost you over twenty-five dollars a pill at your pharmacy! Recently, however, a “generic” alternative to the most popular ED medication, Viagra, has come on the market but has remained surprisingly unknown to patients and doctors alike. How can that be?

Did you know that sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, is actually the active ingredient in a medication called Revatio that is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension? There are two key differences though. First, Revatio comes in a strength of 20mg per tablet, instead of 25mg, 50mg or 100mg per tablet of Viagra. If you are on a dose of 50mg of Viagra, for example, then you would need to take an equivalent of two and a half tablets of Revatio to equal the same dose.

The second difference is the exciting part. (Cue the drumroll…) Revatio has recently become available in generic form for literally fractions of the price of brand Viagra! Even if you would need five tablets of generic Revatio 20mg to equal a 100mg dose of Viagra, you still would pay far less than HALF of what you would pay for one Viagra 100mg tablet. I have even discovered a few insurance companies will actually cover the generic Revatio at a generic copay while not covering Viagra, Cialis, or Levitra. We saved one of our customers exactly $238.72 on just one prescription by asking his physician to prescribe generic Revatio, which was covered at a generic copay, rather than brand-name Levitra. Disclaimer: many plans are still not covering generic Revatio without a prior authorization that it is used for pulmonary hypertension rather than ED, but either way you will save, it’s just a matter of how much!

So ask your pharmacist about “generic” Viagra or come see us at Cooper Drug in downtown Augusta with your brand ED prescription and we would be happy to contact your doctor to suggest the less expensive alternative. We also always welcome prescription transfers if anyone has been receiving the brand name medication at another pharmacy.