Pharmacies should display more price information: Study author

Consumers should be given more information about the price of drugs they are buying in pharmacies, the author of a new report has said.

A new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute is calling for lower prices on pharmaceuticals here.

At the moment, the mark-ups, dispensing fees and pharmacy service charges are not clearly displayed.

Author of the ESRI report Paul Gorecki said this needs to change, so people can shop around for the best prices.

"There's very little information about how the price is actually derived, about what the mark-up is, or what the dispensing cost is or what the ingredient cost is," he said.

"We think it's important patients and consumers are given this information on a more systematic basis. That way, patients can make a choice about which pharmacy they want to use in a given locality."