Home HartaFarmacii study · November 2026

Medicine price barometer for Romania

How much does the price of the same medicine vary from one pharmacy to another? We compared the online catalogue prices of Romania's main pharmacy chains and measured the difference, product by product. The result: for a typical medicine, the highest price is about 26% above the lowest — and for hundreds of products, the price doubles.

26% Median difference for a medicine
13,662 Products compared (≥3 chains)
3,690 With a difference above 50%
1,055 Where the price doubles

In short: based on 13,662 pharmacy products sold by at least three online chains in Romania, the median difference between the cheapest and the most expensive chain is 26% across the whole catalogue and 26% for medicines. For 1,055 products the highest price is at least double the lowest. The largest difference is for Faringo Hot Drink Flu, 600 mg/12.2 mg, 10 plicuri, Terapia: 13.00 RON at Farmacia Ardealul against 50.48 RON at Help Net — a difference of +288% for exactly the same product.

Data verified on from public sources (OpenStreetMap, chain websites, ANM/MS) — updated daily.

Ranking

The medicines with the largest price differences

Online catalogue prices, at chain level (not individual pharmacy). Only medicines sold by at least four chains, priced above RON 2 — filters that remove catalogue matching errors.

# Medicine Cheapest Most expensive Difference Chains
1 Faringo Hot Drink Flu, 600 mg/12.2 mg, 10 plicuri, Terapia COMBINATII (PARACETAMOLUM+PHENYLEPHRINUM) 13.00 RON Farmacia Ardealul 50.48 RON Help Net +288% 9
2 DICLOFENAC TERAPIA 50 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 11.19 RON Napofarm 42.00 RON Farmacia Tei +275% 5
3 Mucofortin 600 mg, 10 comprimate efervescente, Zdrovit ACETYLCYSTEINUM 13.00 RON Remedium Farm 46.16 RON Help Net +255% 4
4 TantumGrip cu gust de lamaie si miere 600 mg/10 mg, 10 plicuri, Angelini COMBINATII (PARACETAMOLUM+PHENYLEPHRINUM) 13.99 RON Dr. Max 49.57 RON Help Net +254% 4
5 DICLAC 50 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 18.00 RON Farmacia Ardealul 60.95 RON Farmacia DONA +239% 8
6 TANTUM VERDE CU AROMA DE LAMAIE 3 mg BENZYDAMINUM 23.90 RON Spring Farma 76.72 RON Help Net +221% 5
7 DICLOFENAC FITERMAN 10 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 10.20 RON Spring Farma 32.63 RON Farmacia DONA +220% 8
8 CLAFEN FORTE 50 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 10.60 RON Help Net 33.00 RON Spring Farma +211% 7
9 DICLOFENAC FITERMAN 10 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 11.00 RON Spring Farma 31.52 RON Farmacia DONA +187% 5
10 DIFLEX 50 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 20.80 RON Pfarma 58.37 RON Mattca +181% 10
11 DICLOFENAC TERAPIA 10 mg/g DICLOFENACUM 7.76 RON Napofarm 21.60 RON Pfarma +178% 5
12 SeptaNazal pentru copii, 0,5 mg/50 mg/ml, 10 ml, Krka COMBINATII (XYLOMETAZOLINUM+DEXPANTENOLUM) 10.20 RON Farmacia Ardealul 25.27 RON Farmacia DONA +148% 6
13 FIORDATUSSI 30 mg/ml PLANTE (EXTRACT DE PATLAGINA) 14.74 RON Farmacia DONA 36.50 RON Help Net +148% 4
14 Loprid 2mg, 10 comprimate, AC Helcor LOPERAMIDUM 3.50 RON Farmacia Tei 8.21 RON Farmacia DONA +135% 4
15 DICLOFENAC TERAPIA 10mg/g DICLOFENACUM 6.25 RON Napofarm 14.53 RON Farmacia DONA +132% 5
16 Larofen pentru copii 100mg/5ml, 100ml, Laropharm IBUPROFENUM 12.40 RON Farmacia Dav 28.11 RON Help Net +127% 5
17 Nurofen Express Forte 400 mg, 20 capsule moi, Reckitt Benckiser IBUPROFENUM 36.61 RON Napofarm 79.08 RON Mattca +116% 8
18 Paduden Rapid Forte, 400 mg, 10 comprimate filmate, Terapia IBUPROFENUM 14.40 RON Spring Farma 31.05 RON Farmacia DONA +116% 8
19 Thrombo Ass 100 mg, 100 comprimate, Lannacher ACIDUM ACETYLSALICYLICUM 5.99 RON Dr. Max 12.53 RON Farmacia DONA +109% 5
20 SEPTOLETE OMNI EUCALIPT 3 mg/1 mg COMBINATII (BENZYDAMINUM+CETYLPYRIDINII CHLORIDUM) 11.84 RON Mattca 24.74 RON Farmacia DONA +109% 6

See the full price list for each product in the medicine catalogue or search for your medicine directly in the price comparator.

By category

Where prices differ the most

The median price difference (highest against lowest), for categories with at least 30 products compared.

Median price difference by category Expectorante Expectorante: 54% (30 products) 54% Dureri articulare si musculare Dureri articulare si musculare: 49% (33 products) 49% Siropuri de tuse Siropuri de tuse: 48% (72 products) 48% Sistemul osos Sistemul osos: 47% (34 products) 47% Creme de fata Creme de fata: 43% (105 products) 43% Deodorante si antiperspirante Deodorante si antiperspirante: 43% (39 products) 43% Suplimente pentru potenta Suplimente pentru potenta: 43% (32 products) 43% Constipatie Constipatie: 42% (66 products) 42% Probiotice si prebiotice Probiotice si prebiotice: 42% (58 products) 42% Scaderea colesterolului Scaderea colesterolului: 42% (35 products) 42% Plasturi si pansamente Plasturi si pansamente: 41% (42 products) 41% Multivitamine si minerale adulti Multivitamine si minerale adulti: 41% (31 products) 41%

Distribution

How big the difference is, product by product

How many products (of the 13,662 compared) fall into each price-difference band.

Distribution of products by price-difference band 0–25%: 6,649 products 6,649 0–25% 25–50%: 3,323 products 3,323 25–50% 50–100%: 2,635 products 2,635 50–100% 100–200%: 866 products 866 100–200% over 200%: 189 products 189 over 200%

Transparency

How we calculated it

Bear in mind: we compare prices at chain level (the online catalogue), not at individual-pharmacy level — a particular pharmacy may charge a different price. Prescription (Rx) medicines are listed online only in small numbers, so the analysis mainly covers OTC medicines and pharmacy products. Reimbursed/reference prices are capped by law and differ much less.

For journalists and researchers

Cite HartaFarmacii as a source

The data in this study may be freely reused in articles, reports and research materials, with attribution and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0 licence). Download the full dataset as a CSV file.

Source: HartaFarmacii — Medicine price barometer, https://hartafarmacii.ro/en/medicine-price-barometer
Download the data (CSV) ↓ Contact the editors →

For additional data, breakdowns by city or chain, or a statement, write to contact@hartafarmacii.ro. Analysis based on 13,662 products compared across the online catalogues.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about medicine prices

  1. How much do medicine prices differ in Romania?
    For a typical medicine, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive online pharmacy is around 26% (the median of the medicines subset). Across the whole catalogue of pharmacy products, the median difference is 26%, and for 1,055 products the highest price is at least double the lowest.
  2. Why do prices for the same medicine differ so much?
    Prices for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines and care products are not regulated — each chain sets its own retail margin freely. For reimbursed medicines and those with a reference price, the margin is capped by CANAMED/CNAS, so the differences are much smaller. The rest (promotions, stock, online versus in-store pricing policy) explains the large variations from product to product. See also reimbursed medicines.
  3. Which pharmacy is the cheapest?
    There is no single pharmacy that is “the cheapest” for every product — the ranking changes from product to product. That is why we compare the price per product, not per chain: for each medicine we show which chain has the lowest price and which has the highest. See the chain comparison in your city under cheap pharmacies or search for your product in the price comparator — you will see instantly which chain is cheapest.
  4. How did you calculate these price differences?
    We took the lowest price of each product in each online pharmacy chain, then, for the 13,662 products sold by at least three different chains, calculated the percentage difference between the most expensive and the cheapest chain. We exclude values above 500% (catalogue matching errors). For example, Faringo Hot Drink Flu, 600 mg/12.2 mg, 10 plicuri, Terapia costs between 13.00 RON (Farmacia Ardealul) and 50.48 RON (Help Net) — a difference of +288% for exactly the same product.
  5. Can I reuse this data?
    Yes. The data is available as a CSV file and may be reused freely, with attribution (“Source: HartaFarmacii”) and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0 licence). For additional data or statements, write to contact@hartafarmacii.ro.

Next

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Cheap pharmacies, city by city → Reimbursed medicines → Search for a medicine →