Calcium Channel Blockers
AmlodipineAmlodipine Besylate
Amlodipine (generic Norvasc) is a long-acting calcium channel blocker taken once a day for high blood pressure and angina. It is one of the most prescribed blood pressure medicines and is an inexpensive generic.
This page is general information about a medication and how cash prices for it are set. It is not medical advice and does not replace the label, your prescriber or your pharmacist. How we handle medical information
All tablet strengths are generic. The liquid forms are brand products for people who cannot swallow tablets.
About Amlodipine
Amlodipine relaxes the muscle in artery walls by reducing calcium entry into those cells, which widens the vessels and lowers blood pressure. It also improves blood flow to the heart muscle, which is why it is used for chronic stable angina. It has a long half-life, so it works smoothly over a full day and missing an occasional dose has less effect than with shorter-acting drugs.
It is often combined with an ACE inhibitor or ARB when one medicine is not enough, and fixed-dose combinations with benazepril, valsartan, olmesartan and atorvastatin exist. Ankle swelling is the most recognisable side effect and is dose related; it is not fluid overload and does not respond well to diuretics, so prescribers usually lower the dose or add an ACE inhibitor or ARB instead.
Amlodipine raises blood levels of simvastatin, so the simvastatin dose is capped when the two are taken together; people on both are sometimes switched to a different statin.
Why the cash price for Amlodipine differs from pharmacy to pharmacy
Amlodipine is a commodity generic, so a pharmacy’s cash price is mostly fee and margin. The spread between pharmacies is wide in percentage terms and, because most people take it for decades, wide in cumulative dollars too.
Fixed-dose combinations can cost either more or less than the separate tablets depending on the pharmacy’s purchasing. The combination with atorvastatin in particular is priced very differently across pharmacies.
Ways to pay less for Amlodipine without insurance
- Ask for a ninety-day prescription; the drug is cheap and the dispensing fee dominates.
- If you take amlodipine with another blood pressure medicine, ask the pharmacy to quote the combination tablet and the separate tablets.
- Ask whether amlodipine is on the pharmacy’s flat-price generic list.
- Compare independent and mail-order pharmacies, not just the nearest chain.
- Upload your prescription to Script Unlock so licensed pharmacies can quote their cash price. You pay the pharmacy directly.
How Script Unlock gets you a cash price for Amlodipine
Prices on this site come from pharmacies responding to a real prescription. We do not publish estimated, average or "typical" prices, because none of those would be your price.
- 1You upload your prescription
A photo of your Amlodipine prescription is enough. Nothing is sold on the site; you are asking pharmacies to quote.
- 2Licensed pharmacies respond
Pharmacies that Script Unlock has verified see the request and each can reply with its own cash price for your exact drug, strength and quantity.
- 3You choose and pay the pharmacy
You compare the responses, pick a pharmacy, and pay that pharmacy directly when you collect. Script Unlock never takes a patient payment and never sets the price.
Questions to ask your pharmacist about Amlodipine
- 1.What should I do about ankle swelling?
- 2.Does it matter what time of day I take this?
- 3.How much grapefruit is a problem with amlodipine?
- 4.Do I need to change my statin dose while taking this?
- 5.What should I do if I miss a dose?
Related medications
Sources
Script Unlock is a marketplace that lets licensed pharmacies quote a cash price on your prescription. It does not prescribe, dispense or sell medication, does not process patient payments, and does not give medical advice. Always follow the instructions of your prescriber and pharmacist and read the medication guide supplied with your medicine.