Brand-vs-Generic Medication Pricing Index: 15 Generics, Six Months of Data, and What the Numbers Tell You

✓ Medically reviewed by  ·  Last reviewed: May 2026

Morgan Ellis

Pharmacy Researcher · 8 years experience

Pharmacy researcher with 8 years reviewing clinical drug information, generic formulation equivalence, and international pharmaceutical standards. Focuses on patient-facing accuracy in medication education.

Generic medication pricing is one of the worst-instrumented data points in healthcare. There is no single public price index for brand-vs-generic comparisons; cash retail prices vary by pharmacy, by insurance contract, by zip code, by which discount card is presented at the counter. Branded MSRPs are knowable but rarely cited side-by-side with global generic prices. The result is a market where two patients pay 100× different prices for chemically identical molecules and neither one knows whether they got a fair deal.

This index is our attempt to fix that. Below you’ll find a 15-row master pricing table covering every flagship brand-vs-generic comparison in MedsBase’s catalogue — current US MSRP (or UK/EU MSRP where the brand is not US-marketed), our actual listed price on MedsBase, and the resulting per-equivalent-unit multiplier. After the master table, four six-month price-trajectory deep-dives cover the medications whose pricing has moved most over November 2025 – May 2026: Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Cialis. The remainder of the page explains why the gaps exist (regulatory, manufacturing, marketing economics), how to independently verify bioequivalence, and how to read the numbers.

This is an evergreen reference. Prices are updated at every quarterly review; the methodology and citation appendix at the foot of the page disclose every source, every conversion, and every assumption.

The Master Pricing Index

All branded prices are 2026 US MSRP from the manufacturer or peer-pharmacy-published cash list price unless otherwise noted. UK/EU price columns are included where the brand is sold predominantly outside the United States (Priligy) or where the international price meaningfully differs from US. MedsBase prices are the lowest-pack-tier prices as listed on the relevant product page on the day of publication; larger packs lower the per-unit cost further. The per-unit multiplier is the brand-to-MedsBase ratio at equivalent dose and form.

Six-month price trajectory: the top four movers

Most of the brand prices in the master table above are flat — boringly flat. Post-patent generic competition (Cialis, Viagra) and stable Medicare/PBM negotiations (PrEP, finasteride, bimatoprost) keep branded MSRPs unchanged for years at a time. The exceptions are the four medications whose pricing moved meaningfully between November 2025 and May 2026: Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro (three GLP-1 agonists), and Cialis (the post-patent ED benchmark). The story behind each is different.

Wegovy (semaglutide 2.4 mg/week) — flat brand, collapsing supply alternatives

Wegovy is FDA-approved (NDA 215256, June 2021) for chronic weight management at the maintenance dose of 2.4 mg subcutaneous weekly, titrated over 16 weeks. Throughout 2023 and 2024, US semaglutide supply was constrained: the FDA added semaglutide to the official drug shortage list in March 2023, and compounding pharmacies operating under federal sections 503A and 503B were permitted to compound the molecule for individual prescriptions during the shortage period. This created a parallel telehealth ecosystem — Hims, Ro, WeightWatchers, and dozens of smaller platforms — dispensing compounded semaglutide at $200–$400 per month.

The FDA preliminarily declared the semaglutide shortage resolved in October 2024, reversed that decision in December 2024 after compounder lawsuits, and reaffirmed final resolution on 21 February 2025. The resolution triggered a regulatory wind-down: 503B outsourcing facilities were given 60 days to stop compounding semaglutide for “clinically equivalent” indications, and 503A pharmacies received 90 days. Through April – May 2025 the legal compounding window for off-label weight-loss semaglutide effectively closed; what remains is a narrower 503A niche for documented clinically necessary custom doses.

The downstream effect across November 2025 – May 2026:

• Wegovy brand price: Held at $1,349/month MSRP. Novo’s pricing power increased post-resolution because legal alternatives shrank. Some PBM-negotiated cash discount programmes (Novo’s NovoCare cash-pay programme) dipped pricing to ~$499/month for self-pay patients without insurance, but list price is unchanged.
• Compounded semaglutide: Pricing range narrowed and rose. Telehealth platforms still operating under 503A custom-Rx framework charge $250–$450/month, up roughly 15–25% from peak shortage-era discounting.
• Research-grade peptide: Pricing per milligram has been flat-to-declining. The MedsBase semaglutide research SKU (10 mg vial) costs $220 and delivers approximately one month of 2.4 mg/week dosing at maintenance — a stable ratio versus brand of roughly 6× savings, unchanged across the six-month window. Per-milligram economics improve sharply with larger vials (30 mg vial: $395; 50 mg vial: $520).

The Wegovy story is the clearest example of how brand MSRPs hold steady not because of natural floor-finding but because regulatory action removed legal substitutes. The pricing power did not come from manufacturing economics — it came from a regulatory action that closed a legal pathway used by an estimated 600,000+ Americans during the 2023–2024 peak compounding era.

Ozempic (semaglutide 1 mg/week, T2DM indication) — same molecule, different label, similar trajectory

Ozempic is the same active molecule as Wegovy (semaglutide) at a lower target dose (typically 0.5–2.0 mg/week vs Wegovy’s 2.4 mg/week), FDA-approved for type 2 diabetes glycaemic control plus cardiovascular risk reduction. Brand MSRP held at ~$968/month throughout the November 2025 – May 2026 window, also unchanged.

Because Ozempic is FDA-indicated for T2DM rather than weight loss, the legal compounding window for Ozempic-equivalent semaglutide for T2DM patients remains slightly more durable than for Wegovy-equivalent off-label weight-loss compounding — clinicians can document medical necessity for a custom-dose semaglutide prescription where the patient has T2DM with insurance barriers. Practically:

• Ozempic brand: ~$968/month MSRP, held flat.
• Compounded semaglutide (T2DM Rx): ~$200–$350/month, narrower than off-label compounding.
• Research-grade semaglutide: At 1 mg/week dosing, a 5 mg vial covers approximately five weeks. At MedsBase’s $160 / 5 mg vial price, the equivalent monthly cost is approximately $32–$40/month — roughly 24× cheaper than brand.

The Ozempic price gap (24×) vs the Wegovy price gap (6×) is misleading at first glance because they’re the same molecule. The difference is dose: Wegovy maintenance uses 2.4× the molecule weight per week, so each month of supply consumes correspondingly more peptide. When the underlying API is priced per milligram (as research-grade peptide is), the dose differential propagates directly into the cost differential.

Mounjaro (tirzepatide) — the supply-chain test case

Mounjaro is Eli Lilly’s dual GLP-1 + GIP receptor agonist, FDA-approved May 2022 for T2DM. The weight-loss analogue Zepbound was approved November 2023. Both are tirzepatide at FDA-approved doses 2.5 / 5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 / 15 mg/week.

Mounjaro’s price story differs from semaglutide because the molecule is younger and Lilly’s manufacturing ramp is still scaling. The FDA added tirzepatide to the official shortage list in late 2023; preliminary resolution arrived in October 2024 and was reaffirmed alongside semaglutide’s in February 2025. Across November 2025 – May 2026:

• Mounjaro brand: ~$1,069/month US MSRP, held flat.
• Zepbound brand: ~$1,059/month US MSRP, held flat. Lilly’s LillyDirect self-pay programme dropped Zepbound vial pricing to ~$349/month for low-dose vials and ~$499/month for higher doses — the most aggressive cash-pay manufacturer rebate in the GLP-1 class.
• Compounded tirzepatide: ~$300–$550/month under narrowed compounding rules.
• Research-grade tirzepatide: Pricing on MedsBase scales sharply with dose. A 10 mg vial covers ~one month at 2.5 mg/week (titration phase) at $240. A 60 mg vial covers one month at 15 mg/week (maintenance dose) at $800. The maintenance-dose multiplier vs brand is therefore the lowest in the entire index — approximately 1.3× at peak dose. The early-titration multiplier is roughly 4×.

Tirzepatide is the only molecule in the index where the brand-to-MedsBase gap narrows meaningfully at higher doses. This is the natural floor of milligram-priced research-grade supply: as the patient titrates up, the per-dose savings compress. By contrast, sildenafil (Viagra/Cenforce) maintains a ~130× ratio whether you’re taking 50 mg or 200 mg because the brand prices each pill not the per-milligram API content.

Cialis (tadalafil) — the post-patent reference point

Cialis is the cleanest case study in the index of what happens to a brand price after patent expiry. The US patent on tadalafil for erectile dysfunction expired in September 2017; the BPH-indication patent expired November 2017. Lilly launched an authorised generic immediately; Teva and others followed in 2018–2019. Eight full years of post-patent generic competition is now baked into the price.

The result: Cialis brand MSRP has held remarkably steady at $70–$75 per 20 mg pill from 2018 through the May 2026 measurement date. Pfizer and Lilly have learnt that the brand-price elasticity for ED medications is asymmetric — lowering the brand price doesn’t recapture the patients who switched to $5–$15 generic Costco-pricing, and the patients still buying brand are doing so for reasons unrelated to price (insurance arrangement, prescriber preference, perceived quality halo). So they hold the price.

• Cialis brand US MSRP: ~$70–$75/pill, unchanged across the window.
• Generic tadalafil US Costco cash: $5–$15/pill, unchanged.
• Vidalista (Centurion Laboratories) on MedsBase: $0.75/pill at the 10-pack starter tier; lower in larger packs. Unchanged across the window.

The Cialis trajectory is the natural endpoint of every GLP-1 price story once patents expire and generic supply becomes commodity. The interesting question is not the brand price — it’s the timing. Semaglutide’s first major patent (the molecule patent) expires in different jurisdictions on a staggered timeline through 2031–2033 (later in the US due to PTE adjustments). The Cialis trajectory is what semaglutide’s chart looks like in 2033. In the meantime, the WHO-GMP export-market manufacturers and research-grade peptide suppliers fill the gap.

Cluster-by-cluster analysis

Erectile dysfunction — the deepest post-patent generic catalogue

Four of the five FDA-approved PDE5/PE molecules sit in this cluster (sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, avanafil, dapoxetine). All four patent windows have expired or never existed in the US/EU export markets, so the WHO-GMP generic supply has been mature for 5–25 years. The per-pill price multipliers (95–130× for sildenafil and tadalafil, 38× for vardenafil, 19× for avanafil) reflect a fully commoditised molecule with abundant manufacturing capacity. Avanafil (Stendra) carries the smallest gap because the molecule is younger (2012 FDA approval) and fewer manufacturers stock it. Comparison reading: Viagra vs Cenforce, Cialis vs Vidalista, Levitra vs Vilitra, Stendra vs Avana.

Premature ejaculation — dapoxetine

Dapoxetine is the one molecule in the index that Janssen-Cilag never received FDA approval for — the NDA was rejected in 2005 and not resubmitted. The brand (Priligy) reached EU approval via the EMA mutual-recognition procedure but is not US-marketed. The MedsBase generic (Poxet by Centurion Laboratories) is WHO-GMP manufactured at the same 30 and 60 mg labelled doses Janssen’s pivotal trials used. The price multiplier (~85×) reflects the European brand MSRP vs the export-market generic. See Priligy vs Poxet.

GLP-1 family — the steepest price gradient, the most volatile supply

Four molecules sit in this cluster (semaglutide Wegovy, semaglutide Ozempic, tirzepatide Mounjaro, liraglutide Saxenda). Brand prices are highest in absolute dollars in the entire index ($968–$1,400/month). Brand MSRP price stability reflects strong patent protection plus active anti-compounding regulatory enforcement post-shortage-resolution. Multipliers range from ~1.5× (Mounjaro at maintenance dose vs research-grade tirzepatide) to ~24× (Ozempic vs research-grade semaglutide at 1 mg/week dose). The bulk of MedsBase’s offering in this cluster is research-grade lyophilised peptide labelled for laboratory use only — this is a different supply chain from the WHO-GMP generic finished-drug supply that fills the ED, PrEP, and hair-loss clusters. The compounded telehealth tier ($250–$500/month) is shrinking in legal scope post-resolution. See Wegovy vs compounded sema, Mounjaro vs generic tirzepatide.

Hair loss — the cluster where generics already won

Hair-loss molecules (finasteride, minoxidil, dutasteride) have been off-patent for over a decade. US Costco cash-pay generic finasteride and US OTC generic minoxidil have driven the brand-vs-Costco gap down to roughly 3×. Our offering competes on price (Finpecia at $33/month vs Propecia $60–$90/month) but the differential is small. The clinical case for choosing the WHO-GMP generic over US Costco cash-generic comes down to access (no US prescription requirement) and dosage range (Tugain offers 10% minoxidil which is not US-OTC). See Propecia vs Finpecia, Rogaine vs Tugain, Avodart vs Dutas.

HIV PrEP — the cluster with the largest absolute-dollar savings

The Truvada (TDF/FTC) and Descovy (TAF/FTC) brand prices are the highest in the index in absolute monthly dollars (~$2,000 and ~$2,300/month respectively). Tenvir-EM and Taficita (Cipla Ltd, WHO-GMP and WHO-Prequalified) deliver the same drug combinations at the same FDA-approved doses for roughly $37–$51/month. The 40× and 60× multipliers translate to absolute savings of $1,950+/month per patient. Cipla’s manufacturing facility for these molecules is the same one supplying the Global Fund, PEPFAR, and UNAIDS — arguably the highest-volume WHO-Prequalified HIV pharmaceutical supply in the world. See Truvada vs Tenvir-EM, Descovy vs Taficita.

Cosmetic eyelash growth — bimatoprost

One pair in this cluster (Latisse/Careprost, bimatoprost 0.03%). Allergan/AbbVie’s brand commands ~$200/month MSRP for an applicator-bundled product. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd manufactures Careprost at WHO-GMP for ~$14/month-equivalent bottle — a ~14× multiplier. The drop content (0.03% bimatoprost, 300 mcg/mL) is bioequivalent. See Latisse vs Careprost.

Why the price gap exists

If you’ve read this far you’ve probably formed the question that drives most patient confusion: if the molecule is the same, why is the brand priced 100× higher? The answer is not a single factor — it’s three layered economic and regulatory inputs.

1. Patent-recovery economics

Bringing a new molecule from clinical Phase I through FDA approval costs $1–$2 billion on average (Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development¹). The originator company recovers that investment by selling the molecule under patent protection at premium prices for 17–20 years (the FDA patent term plus typical regulatory exclusivity adjustments). Semaglutide’s first patent was filed in 2005 and protects Novo’s exclusive sale of the molecule until approximately 2031 – 2033 in most major markets. The $1,349/month Wegovy price isn’t the cost of producing the drug — it’s the cost of producing the drug plus the amortised cost of the development programme that brought it to market plus the marketing apparatus that built brand awareness.

When patents expire, the picture changes. Cialis’s $70/pill price does reflect the post-patent reality — Lilly has finished recovering its development costs. The brand price holds at $70 because that’s what the remaining brand-loyal customer base pays. The molecule itself is now a commodity and is sold at $0.50–$2.00/pill by every WHO-GMP manufacturer with API access.

2. Manufacturing cost differential

Pharmaceutical manufacturing operates under two essentially equivalent quality regimes worldwide: the US FDA’s current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) and the WHO’s Good Manufacturing Practice (WHO-GMP). Both impose the same cleanroom standards, batch-testing protocols, equipment calibration, raw-material traceability, finished-product release assays, and stability monitoring. WHO-GMP is the standard used by manufacturers supplying global procurement bodies (UNICEF, UNFPA, the Global Fund, PEPFAR) and is functionally equivalent to FDA cGMP for the purposes of manufacturing quality control. The two regimes diverge primarily in regulatory filing requirements (the FDA requires the manufacturer to register and audit a US-marketed product; WHO-GMP does not), not in production-line quality assurance.

The cost differential between FDA-registered and WHO-GMP manufacturing is roughly 3–5× for the same finished tablet. The difference reflects US labour costs, US regulatory overhead, US distribution-channel margins, and PBM (pharmacy benefit manager) administrative spread. None of those overhead layers apply to the WHO-GMP export-market supply chain reaching MedsBase customers worldwide.

3. Marketing markup

Branded medications carry substantial direct-to-consumer advertising costs (in the US, where DTC pharmaceutical advertising is permitted), sales-representative visits to clinicians, sample-distribution programmes, brand-loyalty discount cards, and PBM rebate arrangements. The branded-pricing structure absorbs all of these costs and a manufacturer profit margin and the patent-recovery markup. Generic medications carry none of these costs — they sell on price alone in a commoditised market. By eliminating the brand-marketing apparatus, the WHO-GMP export-market generic captures the molecule itself, the dose, the bioequivalence, and the manufacturing quality — without any of the overhead.

How to verify bioequivalence yourself

For the comparisons in this index, the active molecule is the same on both sides. But “same molecule” is a claim, and a sophisticated reader should know how to verify it. Three independent checks any patient or clinician can perform:

1. Check the FDA Orange Book. The FDA’s Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations² — the Orange Book — lists every US-marketed approved drug and its AB-rated generic equivalents. AB-rated generics have been formally demonstrated bioequivalent under FDA pharmacokinetic criteria (Cmax and AUC within 80–125% of the reference product, 90% confidence interval entirely inside that window). Sildenafil 100 mg tablets manufactured by Teva, Greenstone, Hetero, and others carry AB ratings against Pfizer’s Viagra. The WHO-GMP generic supplies sold by MedsBase are not registered in the US Orange Book because they are not US-marketed, but they meet the equivalent WHO Multisource Pharmaceutical Products bioequivalence criteria³.
2. Verify WHO-GMP manufacturing certification. Every WHO-GMP-certified facility carries a WHO Prequalification listing or a CDSCO certification number that is publicly verifiable. For Centurion Laboratories Pvt Ltd, manufacturing certificates are listed under the Indian Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation. For Cipla Ltd (Tenvir-EM, Taficita), the WHO Prequalification listing is on the WHO PQ portal. For Sun Pharmaceutical (Careprost), CDSCO certification is published.
3. Request a Certificate of Analysis (COA) for your specific batch. Every WHO-GMP-manufactured batch produces an HPLC assay confirming the active ingredient is within the USP 95–105% specification window, plus dissolution testing per USP <711>, plus stability/impurity profile. MedsBase customer support will provide the COA for your order’s batch number on request — provide your order ID and the batch code printed on the blister or vial, and the COA is emailed within one business day.

For research-grade peptides (semaglutide, tirzepatide, and the broader peptide catalogue), the verification chain is the same but the COA contains an additional HPLC purity result (≥99.0% target purity per CAS-keyed batch) plus mass-spectrometry confirmation of the peptide sequence. Research-grade peptide products on MedsBase are labelled for laboratory use only and are not classified as finished pharmaceutical drugs — the regulatory and bioequivalence framework above applies to the WHO-GMP finished-drug supply only.

Methodology & data sources

This index is updated quarterly. The current snapshot reflects pricing observed during November 2025 – May 2026. Source-by-source disclosure:

• Branded US MSRPs sourced from manufacturer-published list prices (Pfizer Viagra, Lilly Cialis & Mounjaro & Zepbound, Novo Wegovy & Ozempic & Saxenda, Bayer Levitra, Vivus/Metuchen Stendra, Merck Propecia, Pfizer Rogaine, GSK/Haleon Avodart, Gilead Truvada & Descovy, Allergan/AbbVie Latisse) and corroborated against published cash retail pricing on US peer pharmacies. Where MSRP and observed retail diverge, the manufacturer list price is used as the comparison base; this understates brand-MSRP-vs-our-pricing in markets where US insurance-channel pricing is higher than MSRP.
• UK/EU prices sourced from published private-prescription pricing on UK private pharmacies and EU price-comparison datasets, used for Priligy where US MSRP does not exist (dapoxetine is not FDA-approved).
• MedsBase prices are the listed prices at the smallest commercially available pack tier on each product’s MedsBase page as of the publication date. Larger pack tiers lower per-unit pricing further — a 30-pack Cenforce 100 mg is $18 ($0.60/pill); a 180-pack is $46 ($0.26/pill). All MedsBase pricing reflects 2026 US-zone pricing; some European customers see a 1.5× regional surcharge on non-peptide SKUs (peptide-category products are exempted from that surcharge per a 2026-05-17 catalogue-wide policy). Discounts from the loyalty programme, exit-intent welcome series, or order-recovery codes are not reflected in the listed prices above.
• FDA shortage status for semaglutide and tirzepatide drawn from the FDA Drug Shortages database and FDA public communications dated February 21, 2025.
• Patent expiration data drawn from FDA Orange Book entries and manufacturer 10-K annual disclosures (Pfizer 2020 10-K for Viagra patent disclosure, Eli Lilly Cialis post-patent generic launch timing, Novo Nordisk semaglutide patent family disclosures).
• Bioequivalence criteria drawn from FDA Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (Orange Book) and WHO Technical Report Series 1003, Annex 6, Multisource (generic) pharmaceutical products: guidelines on registration requirements to establish interchangeability.
• Currency conversion for the Priligy row uses a working rate of approximately 1.08 USD per EUR for the comparison window; the multiplier holds across realistic 1.05–1.12 USD/EUR variation.

Direct corrections, source disputes, or methodology questions can be sent to [email protected] and will be reviewed at the next quarterly update.

What’s driving 2025 – 2026 price movement

Three macro forces are visible across the cluster-by-cluster analysis above and worth pulling out for synthesis:

Regulatory enforcement closed legal alternatives in the GLP-1 cluster. The FDA’s resolution of the semaglutide and tirzepatide shortages in February 2025 wasn’t simply a supply update — it triggered the 60-day and 90-day compounding wind-down windows that closed the gray-area legal pathway used by an estimated 600,000+ Americans during 2023–2024. The remaining legal compounding niche is narrower (clinically justified custom doses only, under 503A pharmacy oversight) and the pricing has firmed up accordingly. This is the largest non-organic price movement in the index.

Post-patent ED brand prices are remarkably stable. Eight years of post-patent generic competition has not pushed Cialis below $70/pill brand MSRP and has not pushed Viagra below $80/pill US MSRP. Brand-vs-generic switching has stabilised at roughly 85% generic / 15% brand by volume in US retail pharmacies. The 15% brand-loyal patient cohort is price-inelastic and the manufacturers know it. This is the steady-state endpoint that every other branded molecule in the index will eventually reach.

Manufacturer cash-pay direct programmes are emerging as a third pricing tier. Novo’s NovoCare ($499/month Wegovy self-pay) and Lilly’s LillyDirect ($349–$499/month Zepbound vial self-pay) represent a new manufacturer-direct pricing tier explicitly aimed at the patient cohort that would otherwise switch to compounded or research-grade supply. The pricing here is dramatically lower than commercial-insurance MSRP but still meaningfully higher than the WHO-GMP and research-grade alternatives in the index. Watch this tier — if it expands across more molecules over the next 12 – 18 months, the multipliers in this index will compress.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a “WHO-GMP” certified manufacturer and is it equivalent to FDA cGMP?

WHO-GMP (World Health Organization Good Manufacturing Practice) is the global pharmaceutical manufacturing quality standard used by WHO Prequalified manufacturers supplying procurement bodies including UNICEF, UNFPA, the Global Fund, and PEPFAR. It covers cleanroom air-handling, batch testing protocols, equipment calibration, raw-material traceability, finished-product release assays, and ongoing stability monitoring. Operationally, WHO-GMP is functionally equivalent to FDA cGMP for the purposes of manufacturing quality control. The two regimes diverge primarily in regulatory filing requirements: FDA cGMP requires US registration and US-marketed-product audit; WHO-GMP does not. Manufacturing-line quality is the same standard.

Are the prices in this index up to date?

The current snapshot reflects pricing observed during November 2025 – May 2026. The index is updated quarterly. Brand MSRPs and MedsBase listed prices are sourced as documented in the Methodology section above. For real-time MedsBase pricing on a specific SKU, follow the product link in the master table column 5.

Why are the GLP-1 multipliers smaller than the ED multipliers?

The GLP-1 medications (semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide) are still under active US patent protection. The manufacturer holds full pricing power and the only legal alternatives are compounded pharmacy supply (now narrower post-shortage-resolution) and research-grade peptide for laboratory use. The research-grade peptide pricing per milligram is favourable but the molecule weight per dose is high (especially for tirzepatide at maintenance), which compresses the multiplier. The ED molecules (sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil) are 7–25 years post-patent with mature WHO-GMP finished-drug supply, so the multiplier reflects the full commodity-priced gap.

How can I confirm a specific generic is bioequivalent to the brand?

Three checks: (1) for US-marketed generics, look up the AB rating in the FDA Orange Book — AB-rated generics are pharmacokinetically equivalent to the reference brand under FDA Cmax/AUC criteria; (2) for WHO-GMP-manufactured generics, verify WHO Prequalification or CDSCO certification of the manufacturing facility; (3) request a Certificate of Analysis (COA) for your specific batch via MedsBase customer support — the COA includes HPLC assay confirming active ingredient is within the USP 95–105% specification window, plus dissolution testing per USP <711>.

Does MedsBase carry a generic version of every brand listed?

Fourteen of the fifteen rows in the master table link to a current MedsBase SKU. The one exception is row 9 (Saxenda / liraglutide) — MedsBase does not currently stock a standalone generic liraglutide SKU. For that comparison, US-pharmacy-channel generic liraglutide pricing is used as the substitute (US FDA-approved liraglutide generics launched in 2024 from Teva and other manufacturers). All other 14 rows reflect actual MedsBase listed prices.

Why are research-grade peptides priced differently from WHO-GMP finished drugs?

Research-grade peptides (semaglutide, tirzepatide, the broader peptide catalogue) are manufactured to research-laboratory specifications: ≥99.0% HPLC purity, CAS-keyed batches, mass-spectrometry confirmation of the peptide sequence. They are labelled for laboratory use only and are not classified as finished pharmaceutical drugs. The pricing reflects per-milligram peptide synthesis economics rather than per-dose finished-drug economics. A 10 mg semaglutide research vial costs $220; the same 10 mg of semaglutide molecule embedded in a Wegovy pre-filled injector retails at brand MSRP a meaningfully higher dollar amount per milligram.

Are these prices before or after any MedsBase discount or loyalty programme?

The MedsBase prices in the master table are list prices at the smallest commercially available pack tier on each product page, before any quantity-tier discounts, loyalty-points redemption, welcome-series promotional code, or order-recovery code. Customers on the MedsBase loyalty programme accrue points at 1 pt per $1 of product value (peptide-category exempted) and 100 pts redeem for $5 off a future order subject to a $50 minimum cart. Net pricing after loyalty redemption is correspondingly lower than the listed prices used in the index.

How often is this index updated?

Quarterly. The next update will reflect pricing observed during May – August 2026 and will be published in early September 2026. Material price events between quarterly updates (e.g. a brand MSRP increase, an FDA regulatory action affecting one of the molecules) will be added inline with a dated update note.

Citations & sources

1. DiMasi JA, Grabowski HG, Hansen RW. Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: New estimates of R&D costs. Journal of Health Economics. 2016;47:20–33. (Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development; cited cost-to-develop figure subsequently updated to $1–$2 billion range in industry follow-on analyses.)
2. US Food and Drug Administration. Approved Drug Products with Therapeutic Equivalence Evaluations (Orange Book), 45th edition (2025).
3. World Health Organization. Multisource (generic) pharmaceutical products: guidelines on registration requirements to establish interchangeability. WHO Technical Report Series 1003, Annex 6, 2017.
4. US Food and Drug Administration. FDA Drug Shortages database, semaglutide and tirzepatide shortage-resolution communications, dated 21 February 2025.
5. Goldstein I, Lue TF, Padma-Nathan H, et al. Oral sildenafil in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. New England Journal of Medicine. 1998;338(20):1397–1404. (Reference for sildenafil bioequivalence and efficacy baseline.)
6. Centurion Laboratories Pvt Ltd. WHO-GMP certification under the Indian Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation; ISO 9001:2015 quality-management certification (sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, avanafil, dapoxetine).
7. Cipla Ltd. WHO Prequalification listings for tenofovir disoproxil fumarate / emtricitabine 300/200 mg and tenofovir alafenamide / emtricitabine 25/200 mg combinations.
8. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. WHO-GMP certification under CDSCO; manufacturer documentation for bimatoprost ophthalmic solution 0.03%.
9. Pfizer Inc. Form 10-K Annual Report 2020 (Viagra US patent expiration disclosure).
10. Novo Nordisk A/S. Wegovy and Ozempic patent family and FDA approval documentation; NovoCare cash-pay programme structure disclosure.
11. Eli Lilly & Company. Mounjaro and Zepbound FDA approval documentation; LillyDirect Vial cash-pay programme structure disclosure.

Last reviewed: 19 May 2026. Next quarterly update: September 2026. Direct corrections or methodology questions: [email protected].

Written by

Sophie Chen

Pharmaceutical Content Researcher · 8 years experience

Sophie Chen is a pharmaceutical content researcher with 8 years covering generic medication access and clinical pharmacology. She specialises in international regulatory frameworks, bioequivalence standards, and patient-facing education on therapeutic drug classes. She is not a clinician.