Bausch & Lomb's dry eye drug Miebo costs $800 with prescription in U.S.; same drug sold over-the-counter for $20 in Europe since 2015, exploiting regulatory loopholes for 40-fold markup

A $20 over-the-counter drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S.

A month’s supply of Miebo, Bausch & Lomb’s prescription dry eye drug, costs $800 or more in the U.S. before insurance. But the same drug — sold as EvoTears — has been available over-the-counter (OTC) in Europe since 2015 for about $20. I ordered it online from an overseas pharmacy for $32 including shipping, and it was delivered in a week. This is, of course, both shocking and unsurprising. A 2021 RAND study found U.S. prescription drug prices are, on average, more than 2.5 times higher than in ...