With limited NHS provision, the growing numbers of impatient fertile and desperate infertile alike find themselves thrust into the welcoming arms of the booming multimillion pound fertility industry.

The average cost of one IVF cycle (each cycle is one attempt to get pregnant) is about £1,700, but can be as much as £3,000. The cost of fertility drugs, issued on a private prescription, is on top of that and can vary hugely, as Body&Soul discovered.

In a survey we discovered that some high street chemists are charging infertile couples up to 80 per cent more than others for private prescription drugs. We found it possible to save nearly £700 on just one cycle’s drug costs; and it often takes women several cycles to get pregnant.

We rang 50 outlets, including independent chemists, supermarkets and high street chains, such as Lloyds and Boots. We also checked prices offered by infertility clinics.

The results shocked us. The cost of one ampoule of Gonal F (a commonly-prescribed hormone) ranged from £22.31 to £40, a 79 per cent difference. So, if you needed 40 — up to 40 may be needed per cycle — you could be paying £686 more for one cycle’s drugs (the difference between £892 and £1,600). The cost of the 60-dose Synarel, which regulates the pituitary gland, ranged from £55.66 to £85.49, a 58 per cent difference.

While the price of NHS drugs is regulated by the Prescription Pricing Authority (PPA), there is no such regulation for the cost of drugs dispensed by private prescription. “They can charge what they like,” a PPA spokesman said. And they do. If there is a pattern, it is hard to see; chemists in expensive areas often had cheaper prices than chemists likely to have lower overheads.

Particularly noticeable was the variation in Boots prices. A Boots spokesman said: “We aim to give customers the best value we can and price differences reflect differences in our costs.” They said that Boots.com offers the lowest price; Central London, the highest price; and all other Boots a mid price.

But that’s not what we found. In Liverpool, one Boots quoted £39.32 for Gonal F (although it offered a 10 per cent discount). Others quoted £30.12. That’s a £368 difference on a single course of treatment between branches of the same chain.

Many chemists quoted their prices as “inclusive of VAT”. However, as we were told firmly by Customs and Excise, drugs prescribed by a registered doctor and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist for personal use are VAT-free. A private prescription should make no difference.

Big price discrepancies are not confined to high street chemists. Some NHS hospitals which offer private IVF treatment alongside NHS charge the NHS price. Others view private prescriptions the way they view car parks: as potential profit centres — and charge accordingly.

The variations on price continue into the private sector clinics. Most of the bigger clinics negotiate contracts with the pharmaceutical companies, obtaining a price which is comparable, and sometimes lower than the NHS. Some offer drugs at cost. Others entice punters with their seemingly low IVF cycle costs only to bump up their drug prices to make up the difference.

It’s not in our culture to question the price of medicines. Brought up on the NHS and fixed prescription prices, we choose a chemist for its convenience, late opening or ease of parking. It doesn’t occur to many people that some chemists might charge more for medicines than others.

Infertile couples are doubly disadvantaged. Clare Brown, the chief executive of the Infertility UK support group, says: “Many couples prefer to keep their infertility to themselves, so don’t talk to their friends or contact a patient group like ours and never discover that they ought to shop around.”

It’s an expensive reticence.

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