by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Feb 13, 2013 | Drug Importation, Drug Safety, Online Pharmacies
A report on drug safety published today by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) identifies important threats to the public health from falsified and substandard drugs but seems to ignore the facts about online pharmacy safety and savings. IOM’s report, “Countering the Problems of Falsified and Substandard Drugs,” which is funded by the FDA, wrongly concludes: “Trustworthy, accredited online drug stores do not sell medicine more cheaply than any other registered pharmacy would. Steep online discounts attract customers, but come from illegitimate vendors.” This conclusion is contradicted by a study in the References section of IOM’s report. That study is called “Unveiling the Mystery of Online Pharmacies: An Audit Study” and it’s published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The NBER study is clear that Americans achieve safety and huge savings when buying genuine medication ordered online from registered non-U.S. pharmacies approved by PharmacyChecker.com. Therefore, trustworthy online pharmacies, in fact, do offer much lower drug prices; they are, however, not based in the United States.
As we see it, the IOM’s report reflects the position of its funding source, the FDA, when it comes to online pharmacies. We believe that the FDA essentially allows but prefers to ignore safe personal drug importation in its consumer awareness campaigns. Tens of millions of Americans forgo taking medication each year due to high domestic prescription costs, according to the Commonwealth Fund. It’s common sense that discouraging consumers from buying more affordable and safe medication online just because the pharmacy is outside the country will lead to fewer Americans getting the medications they need. That’s because, as a CVS/Caremark study shows, high medication costs are the number one reason Americans skip their meds.
Like the FDA, the IOM report recommends that Americans only use online pharmacies approved by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program. The main safety criteria for a VIPPS-approved online pharmacy are that its dispensing pharmacies are licensed, inspected by their governing regulatory authorities, and require prescriptions. PharmacyChecker.com-approved online pharmacies meet those standards, which are verified for U.S. or qualified foreign pharmacies. VIPPS-approved online pharmacies cannot help Americans afford needed prescribed medication on many brand name drugs because their prices are much higher than licensed non-U.S. pharmacies. Furthermore, the NABP’s Internet pharmacy programs receive funding from pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, who don’t want Americans buying their medication at lower foreign prices, which could make one question NABP’s independence…
Tagged with: Drug Safety Report, Institute of Medicine, NBER
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 31, 2012 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Medication non-adherence, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation, Pharmaceutical Industry, Skipping medications
The Deadly Problem of High Drug Costs and How Personal Drug Importation Helps
High prescription drug prices continue to be a public health crisis in America and the problem appears to have worsened throughout 2012. The added healthcare costs to the economy caused by Americans not taking their medication have increased from $290 billion to $313 billion. According to a study by the New England Healthcare Institute, over one million Americans die each year because they do not correctly take needed medications or do not take them at all. Though not all of those deaths are due to cost, it’s fair to estimate that hundreds of thousands of Americans are dying each year because drug costs are the number one reason for people not taking prescribed medications. It follows that all avenues of access to safe and affordable medication save lives, including access to safe online pharmacies with the lowest drug prices, international or domestic, which are a real lifeline for American consumers. Therefore, the federal statute banning personal drug importation under most circumstances doesn’t change the fact that current access to safe personal drug importation is good for the public health.
Savings Online Internationally Have Increased; U.S. Has Best Deals on Generics
Online pharmacy savings increased in 2012 due to lower international pharmacy prices coupled with extreme drug price increases – 13 % — in the United States. The potential savings on popular brand name drugs increased to 85% in November 2012 from 80% in March 2011, according to PharmacyChecker.com research. Online pharmacy savings are greatest on brand name medications, which when purchased internationally often help Americans save thousands of dollars each year. Some American lives are saved by online access to international pharmacies. In stark contrast to pricing on brand name drugs, U.S. generic drug prices remained globally competitive and offered Americans their best bet on many popular medications available generically at U.S. pharmacies, such as Walmart’s $4 discount programs, and usage of prescription drug discount cards. And because many popular drugs, such as Lipitor and Plavix, are now sold generically in the U.S., we can expect a shift from international to domestic pharmacies in 2013.
Rogue Online Pharmacies vs. High Drug Prices: Which is More Dangerous?
Rogue online pharmacies are a serious public health threat and need to be put out of business, but the draconian public health consequences of Americans going without needed medication due to cost is a much bigger problem. While one death is too many, very few Americans have died from rogue online pharmacies, domestic or foreign. In dire contrast, as mentioned above, it’s estimated that over one million Americans die each year from not taking needed medication with U.S. drug costs identified as the main culprit behind Americans going without prescribed medication. It’s worth noting that the research showing this sobering data was funded in part by pharmaceutical companies, including PhRMA and Pfizer (Read the research by the New England Health Institute. Follow this hyperlink to the full report; the sponsors are made clear).
The Media Storm of Misinformation on Online Pharmacies
It’s not a freakish editorial accident that the media appears far more interested in reporting about the evils of online pharmacies, especially foreign ones, and their dangers, than the national disgrace of high drug prices causing bankruptcy, sickness, hospitalization and death. The amazing profits of the global pharmaceutical industry are overwhelmingly dependent on charging U.S. consumers the world’s highest prescription drug prices. Preventing Americans from access to lower international drug prices is obviously one of their major goals. The power of the pharmaceutical and the U.S. pharmacy industries, exercised through billions of dollars spent on advertising, lobbying, and media relations, has led to the mainstream media propagating a false narrative about an online marketplace in which it’s not safe to buy lower priced medication from non-U.S. online pharmacies under any circumstances. We’ve written about most of the groups responsible for perpetuating the false narrative:
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies
Center For Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP)
LegitScript.com
National Association of Board of Pharmacy
Partnership For Safe Medicines
With the exception of CSIP, each of the groups above receives funding or revenue from the pharmaceutical industry, U.S. pharmacy industry, and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They all conflate the evils of dangerous rogue online pharmacies with the safe practice of personal drug importation from safe online pharmacies, mostly based in Canada. While FDA’s policies continue to allow Americans to personally import prescription medication, the FDA now engages fully in promoting the industry-sponsored media script. CSIP is largely the brain child of the White House Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, an office dedicated to protecting intellectual property rights and strenuously lobbied and influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.
The Truth About Online Pharmacies
There are many international online pharmacies, mostly based in Canada, that have operated safely and ethically for over a decade. Independent research demonstrates that there are clearly safe online pharmacies, international and domestic, including those approved by PharmacyChecker.com. Safe international online pharmacies meet the same or similar standards as U.S. mail-order pharmacies. Their main difference is that they sell medication at a much lower price than U.S. pharmacies. They are not rogue online pharmacies. It’s that simple.
The dangers of rogue online pharmacies are very serious. Such rogues purport to be real and safe pharmacies when often they are not selling from licensed sources, requiring prescriptions or following other basic pharmacy safety protocols. Some online pharmacies are even operated by organized crime groups. And some sell deadly products.
Online Pharmacies in 2013
In 2012, law enforcement successfully shutdown more dangerous rogue sites. We should all applaud and encourage further efforts to crackdown on rogue online pharmacies. But we should also expose misinformation being spread by the pharmaceutical industry about safe international online pharmacies. Their misinformation directly leads to Americans going without medication because people are scared away from online pharmacies that sell the medications they need at a price they can afford.
To help protect the ability of Americans to safely import affordable prescription medication, we encourage you to become part of the RxRights.org movement. Join RxRights.org and contact your elected officials now to let them know Americans need access to safe medication that is affordable, including through personal drug importation.
American consumers should be able and encouraged to purchase safe medication at the lowest possible prices, whether domestically or internationally. Federal and state laws that decrease access to safe and affordable medication are neither ethical nor conducive to protecting the public health. Comparing drug prices among licensed and safe pharmacies and making this information available online for consumers helps maximize access while greatly minimizing risks: PharmacyChecker.com will proudly as ever continue to do so in 2013.
Happy Holidays and New Year!
Gabriel Levitt
Vice President
PharmacyChecker.com
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 20, 2012 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
The City of Portland, Maine, is up in arms because the Maine Attorney General recently shutdown that city’s personal drug importation program, Portlandmeds, as reported by the Press Herald. Portlandmeds has saved the city $3.2 million over the past eight years, and is a clear example of a municipal drug importation program that has worked extremely well.
Public response has been critical of the ban. A Press Herald survey asked “Should Maine allow residents to purchased prescription drugs from Canada?” The response: 715 out of 769 – 93% – voted yes.
Portland City Mayor Michael Brennan and other city officials expressed their grievances to 9 of 10 of Portland’s State lawmakers, asking them to back a bill allowing Maine residents to import medication from Canada as well as other countries. Mayor Brennan communicated that Maine’s governor, Paul LePage also supports the resumption of the drug importation program.
Opponents of personal drug importation are almost always funded by corporate interests seeking to protect their profits. The opposition in Maine is no exception. The Retail Association of Maine, which includes on its executive board employees of huge pharmacy chains Walgreens and Walmart, vehemently opposes Portlandmeds. As reported in the Press Herald, that association’s executive director’s communicated: “CanaRx is not licensed to do business in Maine…That makes it difficult to know exactly where the drugs are coming from, and possibly puts patients at risk.” CanaRx – the Canadian pharmacy dispensing medication for the Portlandmeds program, is duly licensed in Canada where the medication is just as safe as the medication sold in the United States. We don’t know of a single adverse health effect after eight years of the successful Portlandmeds program.
We know how much money personal drug importation can save Americans – safely – and wish the City of Portland luck in resuming its program.
Tagged with: Drug Importation, Maine, Municipal Drug Importation, PortlandMeds
