Tetracaine Hydrochloride vs. its authorized generic and generics

Tetracaine Hydrochloride is given by a doctor or nurse and billed by the clinic, not a pharmacy. Your care team and your insurance decide which product you get, so ask them what you’d pay.

How to pay the least

Given by your care team

Billed by the clinic

Tetracaine Hydrochloride is given by a doctor or nurse, not picked up at a pharmacy.

Ask your care team or your plan what you’d pay before your visit.

Compare every option

Brand nameTetracaine Hydrochloride

Authorized generictetracaine

Regular generictetracaine

What you’d pay

Cash priceAsk the pharmacyUsually the highest price

Cash priceAsk the pharmacyUsually among the lowest

Same as the brand?

The original

Same medicine

Same active ingredientFillers and dyes can differ

Brand nameNo maker’s card

We didn’t find a savings card or cash price from Tetracaine Hydrochloride’s maker. Ask the pharmacy for Tetracaine Hydrochloride’s cash price. With insurance, ask what your plan charges.

Authorized genericThe NDC to ask for

The same medicine as Tetracaine Hydrochloride, without the brand name. Give the pharmacy its NDC to get it.

tetracaine

Sold by

Bausch & LombThe company behind Tetracaine Hydrochloride

Given by your care team

These numbing eye drops are usually used in the eye doctor’s office.

NDC (for your care team)

0.5%drops
- 82260-920-0511-digit: 82260-0920-055 mL per dropper bottle
- 82260-920-1511-digit: 82260-0920-1515 mL per dropper bottle

Source: FDA, updated October 30, 2026

What to ask your care team

“Which version of Tetracaine Hydrochloride do you use: the brand, the authorized generic or a regular generic? What would I pay for each?”

Brand and authorized generic labels

Official labels and ingredient lists from DailyMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine).

Tetracaine Hydrochloride is sold under its generic name, so there’s no separate brand label to compare. Here’s its label.

Authorized generic package label from Bausch & Lomb — Authorized genericBausch & Lomb

See the ingredients

Active: tetracaine hydrochloride 0.5%

Inactive:

Boric acid
Chlorobutanol
Edetate disodium
Hydrochloric acid
Potassium chloride
Sodium hydroxide
Water

Regular genericWho makes it

One company sells an FDA-rated generic of Tetracaine Hydrochloride. It’s given by your care team, who choose which one to use.

Somerset Therapeutics0.5%

Product page on somersetpharma.com

How it looks, what’s in it, NDCs

0.5%

Package NDC
Carton of 5 mL 70069-596-01

0.5%

Package NDC
Carton of 15 mL 70069-597-01

Inactive ingredients: chlorobutanol, boric acid, edetate disodium, potassium chloride, sodium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, water
FDA label

Package	NDC
Carton of 5 mL	70069-596-01

Package	NDC
Carton of 15 mL	70069-597-01

Who sells it: FDA and Medicaid records, updated weekly. Each maker’s page, card and program is from its own site.

What it’s used for

Numbing the eye for a procedure

What the FDA label says

Tetracaine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution, USP 0.5%, is an ester local anesthetic indicated for procedures requiring a rapid and short-acting topical ophthalmic anesthetic.

Source: the FDA label for Tetracaine Hydrochloride (Bausch & Lomb Americas Inc.), February 7, 2026. Full label on DailyMed

Good to know

It may look different from Tetracaine Hydrochloride (color, shape, or markings). That’s normal for an authorized generic.
If your prescription says “dispense as written,” the pharmacy needs your prescriber’s OK to give you the authorized generic.
Coverage depends on your plan. Your care team or insurer can tell you what you’d pay.
Don’t stop or change a medicine without talking to your pharmacist or prescriber.

Prices change: confirm with the pharmacy before you fill. drugalt.com/drug/tetracaine-hydrochloride/