In short
Act 7-2019 orders the Department of Consumer Affairs, with the collaboration of the Department of Health and ASES, to compile and maintain a statistically valid data sample of the retail prices of the prescription drugs most frequently prescribed to patients without health coverage, and to publish them on an Internet portal. The portal exists and is online: DACO links it from its own homepage. There you can search a drug by name and filter by therapeutic class, drug strength, brand, city and ZIP code, and see what each pharmacy reports. The price you will see is defined the same way in the law and on the portal: it is the drug’s nominal market price when it is not covered by a health plan, or what a patient without insurance or health coverage would pay, for a standard dose for a thirty (30) day period. The law also requires the portal’s front page to warn consumers that the reported prices are a guide to facilitate comparison and not a guarantee of those prices, and that warning does appear.
What is it?
It is a price comparison tool, not an aid program or a discount. Its concrete usefulness is for someone with no health plan, or for someone with a plan whose drug is not covered: it lets you see, pharmacy by pharmacy and town by town, what is being reported. The law also requires that, if the drug is available generically, the generic’s price be reported as well as that of the brand for which the generic serves as equivalent — which is exactly the comparison that saves the most.
Who can do it?
Anyone. You do not need to register to look up prices: the portal’s registration is aimed at pharmacies, which are the ones required to report. The portal itself says so when it offers a service route "for the benefit of Pharmacies" in case they cannot register. For the consumer, the lookup is open.
Requirements
- Nothing. The portal lookup is open to the public; registration is for the pharmacies that report.Verified against the official source
Documents you need
Cost
Step by step
Step 1: Go to the portal and search by name
The portal is preciosdemedicamentos.pr.gov, linked from DACO’s homepage. Its own instructions say: type or choose the drug you want to search — the system autocompletes as you type — select the desired town and click Search. To start another search, the Reset button clears the fields.
Step 2: Use the filters to compare like with like
Besides the drug and the city, the portal offers filters for therapeutic class, drug strength, brand and ZIP code. Filters other than the name are optional, but strength matters: two prices for the same pill at different doses are not comparable.
Step 3: Know exactly which price you are seeing
The law and the portal agree: it is the price an uninsured consumer without a discount or supplementary plan would normally pay, for a standard dose of the drug for a thirty (30) day period. It is not what you would pay with your plan, nor with a discount card. If you have a health plan, that number is a reference, not an estimate of your copay.
Step 4: Ask about the generic
The law orders that, if the drug is available generically, the generic’s price be reported as well as that of the brand for which the generic serves as equivalent. That is the comparison that usually moves the most money, and it is one of the reasons the portal exists.
Step 5: Read the portal’s own warnings
The portal warns three things: that the information must be used for reference purposes only, because the reported prices are just a guide to distinguish average prices and make comparisons, and are not prices suggested by DACO or guaranteed by the pharmacy; that the reported prices are what a consumer without health insurance and without any discount would pay; and that prices are not fixed and may vary. The law, for its part, expressly requires that "guide, not guarantee" warning to appear on the front page.
Step 6: Call before you drive
This is the practical consequence of those warnings. The portal tells you where to look first, not what you will pay today. With a short list of pharmacies in hand, one call confirms the price, availability and whether they have the generic. DACO itself frames the portal as help in choosing the provider offering better prices, closer proximity to your home or the service you need.
Where to do it
There is no application: you go to the portal and look it up. The Department of Consumer Affairs designs, publishes and updates it, in collaboration with the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service (PRITS), and may require every authorized pharmacy to report prices electronically on the form the agency designs. If a pharmacy is not reporting, or you believe the published information is wrong, DACO is the forum: the Secretary issues the rules, regulations, orders, resolutions and determinations for compliance with this law, and anyone adversely affected by one of them may seek reconsideration under the corresponding regulation or, failing that, through the ordinary complaint procedures or the Uniform Administrative Procedure Act.
How long it takes
What to do if something goes wrong
There is a difference between what the law says and what the portal says, and we prefer to point it out rather than paper over it. The text of Act 7-2019, in OGP’s compilation revised June 2, 2026, speaks of the one hundred (100) brand and generic drugs most frequently prescribed to patients without health coverage whose retail value exceeds one hundred (100) dollars, and provides that pharmacies submit the list every sixty (60) days and that DACO update the portal every sixty (60) days. The consumer notice the portal itself publishes says something else: that once a month all pharmacies in Puerto Rico will report the retail sale prices of the three hundred (300) most frequently used prescription drugs, and that prices are reported between the 1st and the 5th of each month. Both are primary sources. To use the portal today, its numbers govern; to know what the law requires, the text governs. If the difference matters to a claim of yours, ask DACO. Who builds the list, per the law: an Interagency Committee organized by the Secretary of State and also composed of the Secretary of Health, the DACO Secretary, the ASES Director, the ACAA Director, the CFSE Administrator and a licensed pharmacist designated by the Pharmacists Association. The Committee must deliver the list to DACO no later than January 31 each year, and in building it considers, among other factors, prescription drugs whose average retail price rose fifty percent (50%) or more over the past five (5) years, or fifteen percent (15%) or more over the past twelve (12) months. Confidentiality, in case you are a pharmacist: the information and documents pharmacies submit to DACO, except name, address, phone, hours and price information, shall be considered confidential and shall not be disclosed to third parties unless ordered by a competent court. What we do not publish: the list of monitored drugs. It changes each year and is consulted on the portal, not here.
Common mistakes
- Taking the portal price as what you will pay: the portal itself says it is referential and not guaranteed by the pharmacy.
- Comparing without fixing the drug strength, which is one of the available filters.
- Using the number as an estimate of your copay: the published price is for an uninsured consumer with no discounts.
- Registering in order to look things up: the portal’s registration is for the pharmacies that report.
- Not looking at the generic, when the law requires reporting it alongside the equivalent brand.
- Assuming today’s price is next week’s: prices are not fixed and may vary.
- Searching the portal for a drug that is not on that year’s monitored list.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I compare a drug’s price?
On the portal preciosdemedicamentos.pr.gov, which DACO links from its own homepage and which came from Act 7-2019. You search by drug name and can filter by therapeutic class, strength, brand, city and ZIP code.
Is that the price I will pay?
Not necessarily. It is the price an uninsured consumer without a discount or supplementary plan would normally pay for a standard thirty-day dose. The portal warns the information is referential, that the prices are only a guide for comparison, that they are neither suggested by DACO nor guaranteed by the pharmacy, and that they may vary.
Do I have to register?
Not to look things up. The portal’s registration is aimed at pharmacies, which are required to report prices; the portal itself offers a service route for pharmacies that cannot register.
How many drugs does it include and how often is it updated?
It depends which source you look at, and both are official. Act 7-2019 speaks of one hundred (100) drugs with a retail value over one hundred (100) dollars and an update every sixty (60) days. The portal’s own notice says three hundred (300) drugs and monthly reporting, between the 1st and the 5th of each month. To use the portal, its numbers govern.
Is it useful if I have a health plan?
As a reference yes, especially if your plan does not cover that drug or you want to know what paying out of pocket costs. What it does not tell you is your copay, because the published price is for someone uninsured and without discounts.
Official sources
These are the government pages this guide is based on.
- Departamento de Asuntos del Consumidor (DACO)
DACO
bvirtualogp.pr.gov
- Prescription drug price portal
DACO
preciosdemedicamentos.pr.gov
- Department of Consumer Affairs
DACO
www.daco.pr.gov
Last verified
August 23, 2026
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