Updated April 2026 · CMS Medicare Part D
Compare Drug Prices
Side-by-side cost comparisons for popular prescription drugs grouped by condition. Each matchup shows per-claim cost from the CMS Medicare Part D Drug Spending Dashboard, generic availability from the FDA Orange Book, and total Medicare spending. Click any pair for the full comparison.
Why Drug-vs-Drug Comparison Matters
Most drugs do not exist in isolation — they sit in a therapeutic class with peers that share a mechanism of action and a clinical indication. Within those classes, prices routinely differ by 10× to 100× between the cheapest A-rated generic and the priciest brand-only entrant. That spread is invisible if you search drug-by-drug; it jumps out the moment you put two related drugs side by side.
DrugPrice builds 153 pre-computed matchups across 25 conditions, each filtered so the two drugs share a primary indication. The result is a fast way to spot which alternative is materially cheaper before you bring the question to your prescriber.
Browse Matchups by Condition
Cancer
View all →Oncology is the highest per-claim category in CMS data, with several drugs above $10,000/claim. Most are brand-only with limited or no generic alternatives, though biosimilars are now reshaping the bevacizumab and trastuzumab markets.
Autoimmune Diseases
View all →Within autoimmune diseases, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Diabetes
View all →Diabetes is the highest-spend Part D category, dominated by GLP-1s, insulin analogs, and SGLT2 inhibitors. Per-claim costs span more than two orders of magnitude between generic metformin and branded GLP-1s.
Blood Clots
View all →Cardiovascular drugs include some of the highest-volume generics in the Medicare data — ACE inhibitors, ARBs, statins, and beta-blockers — alongside expensive brand entrants like PCSK9 inhibitors and the newer SGLT2 dual indications.
HIV
View all →Within hiv, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Multiple Sclerosis
View all →Within multiple sclerosis, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Asthma/COPD
View all →Inhaled respiratory drugs are notorious for limited generic competition due to device patents and FDA bioequivalence complexity. Combination inhalers carry brand premiums even when their components have generic equivalents.
Mental Health
View all →Most antidepressants are generic and inexpensive per claim, but newer agents (vortioxetine, esketamine, brexpiprazole) carry brand-only premiums. The class also has heavy formulary tiering, so cash channels like Cost Plus Drugs frequently beat insurance.
Eye Diseases
View all →Within eye diseases, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Pulmonary Hypertension
View all →Cardiovascular drugs include some of the highest-volume generics in the Medicare data — ACE inhibitors, ARBs, statins, and beta-blockers — alongside expensive brand entrants like PCSK9 inhibitors and the newer SGLT2 dual indications.
High Cholesterol
View all →Statins are the canonical example of a class where generics dominate at very low per-claim cost, while brand-only PCSK9 inhibitors run hundreds per claim. The cost spread is one of the widest in the entire CMS dataset.
Blood Disorders
View all →Cardiovascular drugs include some of the highest-volume generics in the Medicare data — ACE inhibitors, ARBs, statins, and beta-blockers — alongside expensive brand entrants like PCSK9 inhibitors and the newer SGLT2 dual indications.
Cystic Fibrosis
View all →Within cystic fibrosis, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Migraine
View all →Within migraine, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Obesity
View all →Within obesity, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
GI/Acid Reflux
View all →Within gi/acid reflux, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Hepatitis C
View all →Within hepatitis c, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Osteoporosis
View all →Within osteoporosis, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
ADHD
View all →Within adhd, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Opioid Dependence
View all →Within opioid dependence, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Kidney Disease
View all →Within kidney disease, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Rare Diseases
View all →Within rare diseases, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Seizure/Epilepsy
View all →Within seizure/epilepsy, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Pain
View all →Within pain, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
Growth Disorders
View all →Within growth disorders, comparing drugs side by side surfaces the brand-versus-generic spread that often explains most of the per-claim cost difference.
How These Comparisons Are Built
For each condition with at least two tracked drugs, DrugPrice ranks drugs by total Medicare Part D spending, takes the top six, and generates pairwise matchups. Each matchup page joins per-claim cost and total spending from CMS Part D with patent and generic status from the FDA Orange Book and pharmacologic class from the FDA pharmacologic class system. The full DrugPrice methodology documents the join logic and the rules for which drugs are considered "in the same condition."
DrugPrice is not medical advice. Comparison pages describe what the public pricing data shows; they do not recommend a specific treatment, switch a generic for a brand on your behalf, or substitute for a conversation with your prescriber and pharmacist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why compare drugs instead of looking up a single price?
Drugs that treat the same condition often differ in price by 10× or more even when their clinical outcomes are nearly identical. A side-by-side comparison surfaces that spread immediately and shows whether a cheaper generic alternative exists in the same class. The matchups on this page are filtered to drugs that share a clinical indication, so the comparison is meaningful rather than apples-to-oranges.
How are these per-claim numbers calculated?
Per-claim cost is computed directly from the CMS Medicare Part D Drug Spending Dashboard: total Medicare spending on the drug divided by total claims paid. The result is what Medicare and its enrollees actually paid on average, after rebates flowed through the plan. It is not the list price, not the cash price, and not your specific copay. The dataset was last refreshed April 2026.
Is the cheaper drug always a safe substitute?
Not on its own. Drugs in the same class are usually clinically interchangeable for most patients, but individual response, side-effect profiles, kidney or liver function, and drug interactions matter. Compare pages surface the cheaper option as a starting point for a conversation with your prescriber and pharmacist, not as a recommendation to switch unilaterally.
What if my drug is not listed?
The pairs are filtered to drugs that appear in the CMS Medicare Part D dataset and share a condition with another tracked drug. Drugs primarily used in commercial insurance, hospital inpatient, or Medicaid may have less Part D volume and not appear here. The full drug catalog covers more drugs and is searchable from the homepage.
Where can I find each comparison's detail?
Click any matchup in the grid below and you will land on the full comparison page, which lays out per-claim cost, total spending, generic availability, patent status from the FDA Orange Book, and notes on clinical use. Each comparison page also links to the individual drug profiles for deeper pricing history.
Sources: CMS Medicare Part D Drug Spending Dashboard, FDA Orange Book, FDA pharmacologic class system. All data is U.S. government public domain. Cite as: "DrugPrice, April 2026 comparison reading. Data: CMS Part D & FDA."
Last updated 2026-04-06 · 153 matchups across 25 conditions.