My advice is to try coconut oil - it is a lot cheaper and more powerful than the prescription medicine, and with no side-effects.
Try it and compare against the drugs. Post back your experiences - you could help a lot of people.
Coconut oil kills lipid-coated viruses (such as herpes type 1 and 2) on contact. I have personally tried it on cold-sores and have had fantastic results - the cold-sore didn't even appear! That was 6 months ago, I've been waiting for another outbreak ever since.