Restasis is cyclosporine 0.05% ophthalmic emulsion from Allergan, now part of AbbVie. It has been on the U.S. market since 2003 and for most of that time it had no competition, which is how a twice-daily eye drop became a drug with more than a billion dollars a year in Medicare Part D spending attached to it.
That changed when generics arrived. Today the identical strength in the identical single-use vial is sold by at least eight companies, and the gap between what the brand costs and what the generic costs is one of the widest in the eye-care aisle. The catch is that the generic’s price at the register varies enormously by pharmacy, so the savings are real but you have to go get them. Everything below was researched September 3, 2026.
What Does Restasis Cost Without Insurance?
Restasis comes as 0.4 mL single-use vials in 30-count and 60-count packages, plus a 5.5 mL multi-dose bottle called Restasis MultiDose. The label directs one drop in each eye twice a day and one vial covers both eyes for a single dose, so a 60-vial carton is a 30-day supply.
CMS’s National Average Drug Acquisition Cost survey, which measures what pharmacies actually pay wholesalers, priced brand Restasis at $10.31662 per vial in the 60-count package and $10.31423 per vial in the 30-count package effective August 19, 2026. That is $618.99 and $309.43 per carton. The MultiDose bottle came in at $112.31756 per mL, or $617.75 for the 5.5 mL bottle. Drugs.com’s cash prices are consistently a few percent higher: $638.55 for 60 vials, $323.21 for 30, and $638.55 for the MultiDose bottle. SingleCare lists an average cash price of $412.68 for the 30-vial box.
The generic is a different world. NADAC prices cyclosporine 0.05% ophthalmic emulsion at $0.92396 per vial in the 60-count package and $1.23962 per vial in the 30-count package on the same August 19, 2026 vintage, which is $55.44 and $37.19 per carton. At retail the picture is messier: Drugs.com quotes $523.01 for 60 generic vials, while SingleCare’s discount-card price on the generic goes as low as $48.63 for the same 60 vials.
| Cyclosporine eye drop, 30-day supply (60 vials) | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Restasis 0.05% | $618.99 | $638.55 | $638.55 |
| Brand Restasis 0.05%, 30-vial box | $309.43 | $323.21 | $412.68 |
| Restasis MultiDose 5.5 mL bottle | $617.75 | $638.55 | $638.55 |
| Generic cyclosporine 0.05% | $48.63 | $55.44 | $523.01 |
| Cequa (cyclosporine 0.09%), 60-vial box | $622.89 | $644.18 | $644.18 |
| Cequa via Sun’s PhilRx cash discount | $89.00 | $89.00 | $89.00 |
Sources disagree sharply on the generic, and it is worth saying so plainly. CMS says pharmacies buy a 60-vial generic carton for about $55. SingleCare’s card gets a patient to $48.63. Drugs.com’s cash-price guide says $523.01 for the same quantity. All three are accurate descriptions of different transactions, and the practical takeaway is that a generic prescription handed to the wrong pharmacy without a discount card can cost ten times what the same prescription costs at the right one.
For a Medicare-scale reality check, CMS’s Part D spending data shows average gross spending of $947.65 per Restasis claim in 2024 across 472,657 beneficiaries and $1.29 billion in total spending, at $10.20 per dosage unit. That per-vial figure is within 1% of the NADAC acquisition cost, which confirms the brand vial price is genuine.
What Drives the Price
Brand versus generic, and nothing else comes close. The 0.05% generic and brand Restasis are the same strength in the same 0.4 mL vial. In CMS acquisition data, the brand costs about 11 times the generic. Everything else on this page is a rounding error next to that.
Which pharmacy you hand the generic to. Generic eye drops are a category where posted cash prices have not converged the way they have for generic tablets. The $48.63 to $523.01 range across two published sources for one identical 60-vial carton is not a data error, it is the actual dispersion in the market.
Package size. The 30-vial box is half a month. Per vial it is slightly more expensive than the 60-vial box in both brand and generic, so if you are stable on the drug the 60-count is the better buy.
Concentration. Cequa is cyclosporine at 0.09% in a different delivery vehicle from Sun Pharmaceutical, and it prices like a brand: $622.89 per 60-vial box in CMS data and $644.18 at Drugs.com. Vevye, a 0.1% cyclosporine drop, showed a NADAC price of $379.87 per mL on the July 1, 2026 vintage, which is an older vintage than the other figures here. Higher concentration does not mean better for you, it means a different product with its own patent and its own price.
Whether your insurance status unlocks the manufacturer program. AbbVie’s savings card and Sun’s PhilRx program both work off insurance status, which we will get to next.
Cash Price vs. Insurance
The Restasis savings card is a commercial-insurance product. AbbVie’s terms say most eligible commercially insured patients may pay as little as $0 for a 90-day supply, with a maximum annual benefit of $1,200 per calendar year. The same terms say the card is not valid for patients enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid or other federal or state programs, and separately that it is not valid for cash-paying patients. That last clause is the one that matters here: unlike Bausch + Lomb’s dry-eye brands, AbbVie does not publish a fixed cash price for uninsured patients on Restasis.
Cequa’s program is structured differently. Sun’s page says commercially insured patients may pay as little as $0 per month per 60-vial box, capped at $250 per prescription in one version of the terms and a $3,500 annual maximum in another. The $89-per-box cash discount price is presented on the same page as an option for Medicare Part D patients whose prior authorization is denied, delivered through the PhilRx pharmacy service with free delivery. It is a real number from the manufacturer, but the page does not frame it as an open offer to uninsured patients, so ask before you count on it.
For an uninsured patient, then, the honest answer is that the manufacturer programs on this molecule are mostly not for you. The generic is. A $55 acquisition cost and a $48.63 discount-card price beat every manufacturer offer on this page except Cequa’s $89, and the generic does not require you to qualify for anything.
How to Pay Less
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Ask your prescriber to write for generic cyclosporine 0.05%, not Restasis. If the prescription says “Restasis” with dispense-as-written checked, the pharmacy cannot substitute. This single request moves the drug from a roughly $619 to $639 monthly cost to something in the $49 to $523 band.
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Then shop the generic, because the generic’s own range is enormous. Call three pharmacies with the exact quantity (60 vials of cyclosporine 0.05% ophthalmic emulsion) and ask for the cash price with and without a discount card. Our comparison of GoodRx vs. SingleCare walks through how those cards work and why the same card can be worth $10 at one chain and hundreds at another. Named-chain prices on these sites move between visits, so treat any specific pharmacy figure as a starting point to verify by phone.
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Buy the 60-count, not the 30-count. Per vial it is cheaper in both brand and generic, and it halves the number of trips and dispensing fees.
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If you have commercial insurance, run the copay card before you run a discount card. The $0 copay with a $1,200 annual maximum will usually beat a cash price, but a high deductible can flip that, so price both. Our fair price checker helps you compare what you were quoted against published figures.
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If Cequa is what your prescriber wants, ask directly about the $89 PhilRx price. It is on Sun’s own page and the framing is narrow, so the question has to be specific: does the manufacturer cash discount apply to a patient with no insurance at all.
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Handle the exam side separately. You need a prescription and periodic follow-up, so price a self-pay eye exam on its own and check whether a free or sliding-scale clinic can cover the recheck visits.
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If a bill already went wrong, do not just pay it. Our guide to negotiating medical bills covers the script for disputed pharmacy and clinic charges, and Xiidra and Miebo are worth pricing too since both publish a $225 uninsured cash price that Restasis does not.
Bottom Line
Brand Restasis runs about $619 to $639 for a 30-day supply of 60 vials as of September 2026, and roughly $309 to $413 for the half-month 30-vial box. AbbVie’s savings card will not help you if you are paying cash, by the explicit terms of the card.
The generic is the answer. Cyclosporine 0.05% ophthalmic emulsion is the same strength in the same vial from at least eight manufacturers, it costs pharmacies about $55 per 60-vial carton, and a discount card can put it in a patient’s hands for under $50. The one thing to watch is that the generic’s retail price has not settled, with published cash prices as high as $523 for that same carton, so call around before you fill.