Why Dymista Nasal Spray is So Expensive + How to Save
speciality medications
Nasal stuffiness. Itchy throats, noses, and eyes. Headaches, sinus pressure, fatigue, and mucus everywhere.
If you deal with allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, you don’t need to be told twice that suffering these “small” symptoms can make enjoying your life very, very difficult. Fortunately, there are effective allergy medications, like Dymista Nasal Spray, that can reverse some of these frustrating symptoms—leaving you free to live your life.
Unfortunately, Dymista Nasal Spray can be prohibitively expensive.
Why is this the case? And is there anything you can do to save big on Dymista Nasal Spray (or any of its alternatives)?
Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Dymista Nasal Spray?
Dymista Nasal Spray (azelastine hydrochloride/fluticasone propionate) is a powerful nasal spray that leverages two separate active ingredients to bring allergy sufferers effective relief. These two ingredients are azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone propionate.
Azelastine is an antihistamine. It’s a type of ingredient that can help reduce the effects of your body’s histamines, or immune system substances that trigger runny noses, itching, and sneezing.
When you take azelastine and other antihistamines, these pathways get shut down.
Fluticasone is a corticosteroid. Taking fluticasone helps reduce your body’s production and release of substances that cause inflammation. As a result, after taking this medication, you should experience reduced congestion, swelling, and irritation.
Both of these ingredients act together to make dealing with both seasonal and perennial allergic rhinitis much easier.
However, it’s a good idea to realize that this medication is strong.
Many doctors will wait to prescribe Dymista Nasal Spray until after patients have tried both corticosteroids and antihistamines alone to see if they are effective against their symptoms.
One reason for this is simple: When compared to simpler corticosteroid or antihistamine medications, Dymista is blisteringly expensive.
Why is Dymista So Expensive?
First things first: Let’s take a quick look at what patients prescribed Dymista Nasal Spray need to pay to benefit from this medication.
How Much Does Dymista Nasal Spray Cost?
In the United States, a 23g supply of Dymista, or about 120 metered sprays, can cost around $350.00.
That’s a lot of money for a nasal spray (especially given that some patients may need up to four sprays per day).
If you’re looking for an affordable alternative, you’re in luck. Through NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can buy that same amount of brand-name Dymista Nasal Spray for around $80.00 – for savings of up to 77%.
That’s great (and can leave a lot of money in your wallet!), but it does lead to another question.
If a Canadian online pharmacy can offer such a low price on Dymista Nasal Spray, why does it cost so much Stateside?
Factors Contributing to Dymista’s High Cost
There are quite a few reasons why Dymista Nasal Spray is so expensive in the United States. The top factors include:
Research and development costs. Making a drug like Dymista and getting it ready for approval and distribution costs a lot of money—from sourcing ingredients to testing formulations, creating any necessary machinery, and more. For Dymista’s manufacturer, Meda Pharmaceuticals, to make its money back, it needs to price its drug high.
Quality control. There is no margin for error when it comes to making medications. Every single unit of Dymista Nasal Spray needs to do exactly what it says it does, for everyone’s safety and best interests.
To produce medications to that high standard, Meda Pharmaceuticals spends a lot of time and money on quality control. It passes the costs for those processes back to the consumer.
Marketing and distribution. Marketing a drug directly to consumers, as is common in the United States, is expensive. (Pharma marketing and ad spend can soar well over $1B per month.) That budget pays for a huge amount of activities, including advertising, sales force efforts, and the complex logistics required to scale up production and distribute a drug from California to New York and beyond.
Are There Alternatives to Dymista Nasal Spray?
As we’ve mentioned, Dymista Nasal Spray is a powerful medication that many patients try after single-ingredient medications that contain just fluticasone or an antihistamine.
But what are those first-line medications—and are there any other medications that are a solid alternative to Dymista Nasal Spray?
The best medication for you is the one your doctor recommends. That said, here are a few common alternatives to Dymista Nasal Spray.
Flonase vs. Dymista
Flonase (fluticasone) only contains one active ingredient, a corticosteroid. It’s very good at reducing inflammation but doesn’t contain any of the antihistamine properties of Dymista Nasal Spray.
In general, Dymista is a better selection for patients with severe symptoms than Flonase, but Flonase may be a better first option to consider. Both medications can cause side effects, including nasal irritation, nosebleeds, and headaches.
You can buy one spray bottle of Flonase (120 sprays!) through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $44.00. Get the generic for much less still!
Flixonase vs. Dymista
Flixonase (fluticasone) is a drug that’s similar to Flonase, in that it also treats allergic rhinitis and also leverages fluticasone as its main active ingredient.
The differences between Flixonase and Flonase are subtle, and mostly come down to regional availability and branding.
Neither medication contains an antihistamine, which constitutes their biggest difference from Dymista Nasal Spray. Like Flonase, Flixonase is considered a simpler first-line treatment; people with more severe symptoms might have a better experience with Dymista.
Azelastine (Astepro) vs. Dymista
Astepro (azelastine) contains the other active ingredient of Dymista Nasal Spray, azelastine. You could say that Astepro plus Flonase equals Dymista, and (because of differing formulations and filler ingredients) that wouldn’t technically be correct—but you’d be on the right track.
Astepro blocks histamine pathways very well and can reduce symptoms like sneezing and itching in this way, but since it doesn’t contain a corticosteroid, it’s not very good at reducing inflammation. Many doctors recommend trying Astepro or a similar antihistamine prior to trying Dymista.
You can buy one pump spray of Astepro through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $230.00.
Patanase vs. Dymista
Patanase (olopatadine) is an antihistamine nasal spray that patients can use to treat their allergic rhinitis. It doesn’t contain a corticosteroid, making it a product that (like Astepro) is good at one-half of Dymista’s typical mechanism of action.
If you haven’t tried an antihistamine yet or if you’re looking for something effective that doesn’t contain a corticosteroid—say, if you have a bad reaction to corticosteroids—then Patanase may be worth a try.
You can buy one spray bottle of Patanase through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $400.00. Or, get the generic for much less!
Does Dymista Help with Specific Conditions?
So far, we’ve learned that if you have allergic rhinitis, it may be a good idea to try something like Flonase or Astepro, first, and then move to Dymista Nasal Spray to see if a one-two punch can help you knock out your symptoms more effectively.
If this is what you’re looking for, and that’s a care plan that makes sense to your doctor, then you may be set to go. You can buy Dymista Nasal Spray right here.
However, treating allergic rhinitis isn’t the only thing Dymista is known for.
Does Dymista Help With Sinus Infections?
For some people, Dymista Nasal Spray can provide relief and support recovery when dealing with sinus infection symptoms. Since fluticasone and azelastine together can alleviate nasal congestion and reduce inflammation—two frustrating symptoms of sinus infections—taking Dymista during a sinus infection can be very helpful.
Traditional treatments for sinus infections include saline nasal sprays, decongestants, and even antibiotics (if your healthcare team is sure that the infection is bacterial). Dymista’s dual-action approach can result in quicker, more comprehensive relief than single-ingredient treatments.
However, if your infection is bacterial, note that you will probably still need antibiotics.
Does Dymista Help With Post-Nasal Drip?
Post-nasal drip is a discomfiting sensation that happens when you collect excess mucus in the back of your nose or throat. Often, this is the reason that you get a sore throat or cough when you’ve been experiencing a cold for a few days.
Dymista Nasal Spray can help alleviate the discomfort associated with post-nasal drip by addressing what causes this condition to occur.
The antihistamine part of Dymista (azelastine) can reduce mucus production, and fluticasone helps reduce nasal passage swelling (which promotes better mucus drainage).
Does Dymista Help With Blocked Ears?
Often, people who are suffering from allergies experience the peculiar and uncomfortable sensation of having blocked ears. This can be caused by Eustachian tube dysfunction, or by ear congestion.
Dymista may be able to help relieve ear congestion, and, by doing so, unblock ears. Reducing sinus and nasal inflammation with Dymista’s corticosteroid and antihistamine action can help keep Eustachian tubes open and clear.
How to Save on Dymista Nasal Spray
Whether you need Dymista Nasal Spray to help you soothe blocked ears or a throat clogged with mucus, first, you need to be able to afford it. If spending hundreds of dollars per month on nasal allergy sprays isn’t in your budget, it’s time to consider some viable alternatives.
Here are just a few options to think about:
Use generic alternatives to Dymista Nasal Spray. If you tolerate generic medications well, you may be able to use generic azelastine hydrochloride/fluticasone propionate instead of the brand name version. Make sure your doctor thinks this is a good idea for you and your specific symptoms and keep a log of your experiences after starting the medication to see if you can pinpoint any issues you may have.
(You can buy one spray bottle of generic azelastine hydrochloride/fluticasone propionate through NorthWestPharmacy.com for about $40.00.)
Take the time to learn about and price-check your medications. Generic and brand-name Dymista may be sold for different prices at different pharmacies in your area. It could be well worth your time to drive to a few different locations to see where you can get these medications for the most affordable price.
Of course, that does come at the expense of your time—and gas money—to do that detective work.
Which leads us nicely to our third cost-cutting strategy:
Lean on online pharmacies to do your research, skip transit costs, and more. Online, and particularly international, online pharmacy websites can help you get many of the cost-saving benefits of price-checking without the necessity of doing the legwork yourself. Further, international online pharmacies can source their medications from around the world, tapping into markets that don’t have the same cost-boosting factors that are present in the United States.
While this can pose safety issues if you aren’t careful, this can come with many benefits. Select a CIPA-certified pharmacy with hundreds of thousands of positive customer reviews, and you’ll be able to pay reliably low prices for authentic medications (and even get them shipped directly to your front door).
While it’s understandable that you might be leery of buying medications online, especially through international pharmacies, as long as you work with a certified pharmacy you should be in good hands.
If you have any questions or concerns at all, reach out to the friendly team at NorthWestPharmacy.com for more information, or chat directly with one of our on-staff pharmacists Monday through Friday to learn more about how we can assist you.
Ready to Save Money on Brand-Name Dymista Nasal Spray?
At traditional brick-and-mortar pharmacies in the United States, Dymista Nasal Spray can retail for hundreds of dollars per month. Here, through NorthWestPharmacy.com, you can buy it for much, much less (up to 77% in savings!).
What’s more, we can also help you save on time and stress by offering an intuitive, informative way to learn about and purchase the prescription medications you need (before shipping them directly to you). It’s a simple, reliable, and accessible way to get the medications you need to thrive!
Ready to buy your Dymista Nasal Spray for less? Simply navigate to the Dymista Nasal Spray medication page, select your preferred version of the medication, and click “add to cart.” We’ll help you with the rest!
Our team is pleased to help you soothe your symptoms and pursue better health!
