App of the Week: LowestMed
Editor’s Note: This piece is part of a weekly series in which MainStreet spotlights one new smartphone app that can help readers manage their money, shop better or improve their job search. Check back each week to find out how to make your smartphone even smarter!
NEW YORK (MainStreet) — LowestMed hopes to be the Kayak for the drug industry by making it easier for shoppers to do price comparisons on their medications.
The app, available for free on the iPhone and Android phones, lets users search for stores nearby that have the lowest prices on generic and brand-name prescription drugs. All the user has to do is enter the name of the drug on the app and pick the dosage amount, and it will highlight a handful of major pharmacies and grocery store chains that carry it along with the prices. The app even offers an electronic discount card that customers can present in the store to ensure they get the quoted price.
While the app does fill a void, it also has a few flaws which we’d like to see improved in future versions. For starters, users must search by the scientific name of the drug (ibuprofen, for example) rather than the brand name (like Advil or Motrin). The goal seems to be to emphasize the price rather than the brand and show off the cheaper generics available, which we definitely understand, but from a practical standpoint it would certainly be easier for someone to search by the more well-known brand name and then learn of the alternative drugs that fall in the same category.
Along the same lines, the other big complaint we have is that the results only show the prices of the drug and not the brand. So you can find out the cheapest place to get a 400-mg dose of ibuprofen that lasts for 30 days, but you won't know whether that is Advil, Motrin or a generic brand. Even if the goal is to play up the price of a medicine over the name on the bottle, those using the app should have the option to find out the specific brand of the drug they are looking for without having to visit the store.
Despite those complaints, the app is worth a try if for no other reason than to get a better sense of the price range for particular medications. It will certainly make you think twice about passing up the generic drug for the brand name.
Seth Fiegerman is a staff reporter for MainStreet. You can reach him by e-mail at seth.fiegerman@thestreet.com, or follow him on Twitter @sfiegerman.
