Sources and methodology

How do we check medicine prices?

We read the listed price directly from the pharmacy's own website or the maker's suggested retail price (SRP) page, and record it with the date and the exact page we read it from. Sources include Watsons, Southstar Drug, Rose Pharmacy, TGP and RiteMed's SRP pages.

For each listing we record:

• The generic name, brand and strength.
• The listed price, and whether it is for one tablet or a pack.
• The pack size, where the listing is for a pack.
• The pharmacy, the source page and the date checked.
• Notes, such as "out of stock at time of check" or "approximate".

All of this lives in one price file. Pages never contain hand-typed prices: every figure you see is drawn from that file, so a correction made once updates every page. The full list is on our prices page.

What happens to prices we cannot confirm?

They are not shown. A listing is marked unverified when the pack size is unclear, when two pages on the same site disagree, when the price could not be read from a source we can cite, or when we only have a figure from a phone call or a third party. Unverified rows stay in our records so we can recheck them, but they never appear in a table, a sentence or a calculator.

Where a brand has no confirmed price yet, the page says the price is being checked rather than guessing.

How are pack prices turned into per-tablet prices?

Some medicines are listed by the box rather than the tablet. We divide the listed pack price by the number of tablets in the pack, and say so. For example, Robust Plus, a sildenafil brand, was listed at ₱299 for 4 tablets, which works out to ₱74.75 per tablet per tablet.

This is what makes like-for-like comparison possible. The cheapest confirmed sildenafil 50 mg listing, for instance, is ₱49 (Erecto, TGP). Comparisons are always made at the same strength.

How are other currencies worked out?

Prices are recorded in pesos. When you choose US dollars, pounds, Australian dollars or euros, the site converts using a fixed reference rate for each currency. These rates are labelled "reference rate, not live" wherever they are used. They are updated by hand from time to time and are meant to give a sense of cost, not a quote. Your bank or card provider will use its own rate.

Your currency choice is saved only on your own device, as explained in our privacy policy.

How often are prices rechecked?

We aim to recheck every listing at least once a quarter, and sooner when a reader reports a change. Each row shows its own checked-on date, so you can see how fresh it is. Pharmacy prices change without notice; always confirm at the pharmacy.

How do we verify telehealth providers and clinics?

For telehealth services, we record what each provider publishes: consultation fee, starting price, delivery coverage, whether the consult is by chat, video or form, and the date checked. If a figure is not published, we say "Not published" rather than estimate it.

For clinics and doctors, an entry is listed only when we can confirm:

• The clinic exists at the stated address, from its own site or an official listing.
• Named doctors hold a current license on the PRC's public license verification service.
• The contact details work.

Entries we cannot confirm are kept off the page until they are checked. No provider or clinic pays to be listed or to be described a certain way.

How do we check medicine registration?

For brands sold in the Philippines, we point readers to the FDA Philippines verification portal and only state a registration detail we have seen ourselves. We do not publish a registration number we have not checked.

How was the ED self-check written?

Our free ED self-check uses five original questions. They cover the same areas as validated questionnaires such as the IIEF-5 (confidence in getting an erection, firmness, keeping it, and satisfaction), but the wording is our own. Answers are scored from 5 to 25 and placed in a broad band.

The self-check is a prompt to talk to a doctor, not a diagnosis. It cannot tell you what is causing a problem, and a low score does not mean anything is seriously wrong. It runs entirely in your browser: it stores nothing and sends no answers or scores anywhere.

What are our citation standards?

• At least three sources per page, each with a working link, listed at the bottom.
• Primary sources over summaries: regulators, guidelines, drug labels and peer-reviewed studies come before patient-information sites.
• Statistics are given only with a source. We do not invent numbers.
• Seller pages, forums and social media are never cited for clinical claims.
• Sources are rechecked at each medical review, and dead links are replaced.

More on how we write and correct pages is in our editorial policy.

Want an answer for your own situation? Talk to a licensed doctor online. It is private, and the doctor decides what, if anything, suits you.