A High Street pharmacy is to dispense privately prescribed prescriptions with no mark-up on the cost of the medicine, it announced today.
 

Superdrug said they will sell pills from anti-malarials to Viagra at the 'trade price' listed by the manufacturer. However, a spokeswoman admitted they may negotiate a lower deal for themselves on some items.
 

The move means consumers will make a typical saving of £4.70 on a prescription of four Viagra 100mg, down from £28.20 to £23.50 and £17.88 on an 84-tablet course of Propecia hair loss treatment.

A spokeswoman said: 'We estimated there are five million prescriptions issued every year in the UK, if we save each person just £2, then that's a possible £10m.'
 

The new pricing will be available in stores immediately and applies to all private prescriptions, including antibiotics and courses of IVF.
 

It follows a move by Asda earlier this year that was quickly copied by Superdrug, to sell cancer drugs at cost price.

'The difference here is that this move covers all private prescriptions, which are sold everyday,' the spokeswoman said.

Superdrug superintendent pharmacist Martin Crisp said they had changed the pricing system to be 'more transparent.'
 

Mr Crisp said: 'We believe that a prescription shows a real need regardless of how or where it was prescribed. Whether the prescription is for a medicine to improve health or quality of life we're delighted to make a stand and hope that we can make a real change to the way prescriptions are dispensed in the UK.'

He called on all other pharmacies to follow their example.

A Boots spokesman said: 'Although the majority of prescriptions dispensed in our pharmacies are supplied on behalf of the NHS, we are pleased to be able to provide those patients with private prescriptions the medicines they need at what we believe are very competitive prices.'