Pill Splitting Savings Calculator

Pharmaceutical manufacturers frequently price a higher-strength tablet only slightly more than a lower-strength tablet of the same drug, because the manufacturing cost difference between strengths is small even though the price a patient pays often is not proportional to the dose. That pricing pattern is what makes tablet splitting a common cost-saving strategy: buying the higher-dose tablet and splitting it in half with a pill splitter can supply two doses of the lower strength for close to the price of one higher-strength pill. This calculator compares your current monthly cost at the lower, prescribed dose against the monthly cost of buying the higher-dose tablet and splitting it, reporting the dollar and percentage savings.

Tablet splitting is not appropriate for every medication -- extended-release, enteric-coated, and capsule formulations can lose their controlled-release properties or expose the patient to an uneven dose if split, and some tablets are irregularly shaped or too small to split accurately. It's a decision to make with a pharmacist or prescriber, who can confirm the specific medication is FDA-labeled or otherwise appropriate for splitting and that the resulting half-dose still falls within the intended dosing range. The calculator also reports the total cost of a full days-supply quantity at both the current and split pricing, so the savings can be evaluated against a real prescription fill rather than only a monthly estimate.