Savings-conscious shoppers can save money by buying the erectile dysfunction drug that’s lowest in price. Here’s an up-to-date overview of prices per recommended starting dose. 

Thanks in part to the recent introduction of generic alternatives and to human ingenuity, the cost per Recommended Starting Dose or RSD of erectile dysfunction has become somewhat more reasonable. In the months and years to come, further price decreases are likely.

This article lays out the average cost per recommended Starting Dose of the five brand-name ED drugs now on the market, along with the RSD for the generic equivalents of Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra.

What the Table Shows

The accompanying table shows the prices of these eight ED drug options listed in order from lowest cost per RSD to the highest cost. It supposes a purchase of 10 tablets of the strongest strength available for each drug. Because the RSD for these drugs is half that of the highest strength, it also calculates the price per RSD based on splitting each of 10 higher strength tablets in half to yield 20 doses at the RSD level.

The one exception is Staxyn, which is dispensed only in packets of four 10-milligram tablets, each of which is to be dissolved under the tongue to speed up its onset of action. The 10-milligram tablet is the correct RSD for Staxyn, and its tablets are not to be split. The average cost per RSD was calculated by dividing the price of three four-tablet packets by 12.

As you can see from the table, the ED drug with the lowest cost per RSD is vardenafil, the active ingredient in both Levitra and Staxyn. At $23.44 per RSD, it is only slightly higher than the cost per RSD of sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra.

How Prices Were Calculated

The average prices in the table were calculated by adding the currently posted prices for each drug at a number of brick-and-mortar retail pharmacies with that of eDrugstore.com, a longtime online facilitator.

The price differential between the RSDs of vardenafil and sildenafil is so narrow that it’s entirely possible you can find sildenafil at a slightly lower price than vardenafil from specific vendors.

Somewhat surprising is the fact that Viagra and Cialis still command the highest prices per RSD so many years after their market debuts in 1998 and 2003, respectively. This reflects the continuing popularity of these brands and the fact that many consumers still prefer these brand-name medications over their lower-priced generic alternatives.

No Generics for Staxyn, Stendra

Neither Staxyn nor Stendra has a generic equivalent on the market at this time, although at some point in the future, it’s likely that generic competition will emerge when the U.S. patents for these drugs expire.

Many men with ED have found that they can save both time and money by ordering their drugs from eDrugstore, an online facilitator based in Tempe, Arizona. For men who don’t have a doctor’s prescription for one of these ED drugs, eDrugstore can set up a complimentary online consultation with a licensed U.S. physician who can authorize a prescription if appropriate. To learn more, visit eDrugstore’s Erectile Dysfunction page.