by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 20, 2011 | Drug Prices
The simple answer is that tens of millions of Americans cannot afford prescription drugs here in the United States because they’re too expensive. Meanwhile, drug prices outside the U.S. are much lower – often 80% lower. Americans skipping or not taking prescription drugs is a national emergency largely going ignored in our healthcare debate.
Here are the facts about Americans skipping medication due to drug prices:
1. 25 million Americans did not take prescribed medication in 2009 due to cost, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From 1997 to 2009, the percentage of Americans not taking their medications due to cost nearly doubled increasing from 4.8 to 8.4%.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics 2011. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus10.pdf#highlights
2. 48 million Americans ages 19-64 did not fill a prescription due to cost in 2010, according to the Commonwealth Fund – a 66% increase since 2001.
Source: The Commonwealth Fund 2010 Biennial Health Insurance Survey, http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Surveys/2011/Mar/2010-Biennial-Health-Insurance-Survey.aspx.
3. 3.4 million Medicare enrollees stop taking their medication due to the coverage gap.
Source: Polinski JM, Shrank WH, Huskamp HA, Glynn RJ, Liberman JN, et al. 2011 Changes in Drug Utilization during a Gap in Insurance Coverage: An Examination of the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap. PLoS Medicine.
4. Prescription non-adherence adds $290 billion to America’s healthcare costs.
Source: U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 76 FR 12969. March 2011. http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/03/09/2011-5287/campaign-to-improve-poor-medication-adherence-u18.
Access our RxSOS fact sheet here.
Tagged with: Commonwealth Fund, coverage gap, Drug Prices, FDA, FDA warnings, healthcare, international pharmacies, Medicare, National Center for Health Statistics, PLoS, prescription non-adherence, prescriptions, Public Library of Science, safety, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, United States
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Aug 24, 2011 | Internet Censorship, Online Pharmacies
UPDATED: August 24, 2011, 6:30pm
The United States Department of Justice just announced that Google will be paying a $500 million penalty to the U.S. government for allowing Canadian pharmacies to advertise to Americans. We are familiar with this case, having been asked to testify in it – and we are mentioned several times in the settlement.
Although we tried to help Google vet pharmacy advertisers from 2006 to 2009, it is clear that Google was not limiting pharmacy advertisers to just those verified in our Pharmacy Verification Program – as noted on pages 4 and 5 of the settlement. That was bad because it allowed advertising by pharmacies that did not require valid U.S. prescriptions and/or sold controlled substances into the U.S. – activities which we do not permit in our program. As noted on page 6 of the settlement, the $500 million amount is based on revenues generated from the advertising and sales of “controlled” substances, not all medicines.
On the other hand, we believe that efforts to help Americans find more affordable and safe sources of medication are necessary and should be praised. And Google also did that: Although it can’t anymore – at least not through advertisements – and we think that’s wrong.
Unfortunately, the Department of Justice is publicizing the settlement in a misleading manner that paints all non-U.S. online pharmacies as “patently unsafe,” and “contributing to America’s pill problem”. Peer-reviewed research shows that buying prescription medications from licensed pharmacies in other countries, and specifically those verified in the PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program, is safe. Genuine medicines (and no controlled substances) are obtained, typically at savings of 80% or more on brand name medications – and prescriptions are required. Also, while the DOJ’s announcement emphasizes the illegality of personal drug importation, it fails to mention that individuals, as a matter of FDA’s policies, are not prosecuted for buying non-controlled drugs from outside the U.S. for their own use.
An FDA representative says in today’s announcement that the settlement “demonstrates the commitment of the Food and Drug Administration to protect the US consumer and hold all contributing parties accountable for conduct that results in vast profits at the expense of public health.” While this is in part true, it ignores the fact that much greater profits are being made by pharmaceutical companies at the expense of public health by keeping Americans captive to inflated drug prices. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported, 25 million Americans did not take their prescribed medication due to cost in 2009, almost double the number in 1997. Personal drug importation from properly verified and reputable Canadian online pharmacies clearly benefits public health by making drugs more affordable for Americans.
For a take on this situation from the perspective of a knowledgeable physician who purchases his own medicine from abroad, see the recent article by Stephen Barrett, M.D., founder of Pharmwatch.org and Quackwatch.org.
Tagged with: Department of Justice, Google settlement, Rhode Island
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jul 18, 2011 | Counterfeit Drugs, Drug Importation
Last week the Pew Charitable Trusts program on drug safety released its final White Paper about the major threats to the U.S. drug supply, called After Heparin: Protecting Consumers from the Risks of Substandard and Counterfeit Drugs. Online pharmacies are not among the major threats, according to Pew. Rather, the globalization of drug manufacturing and Byzantine domestic pharmaceutical distribution processes are the crux of the problem.
According to Pew, a major threat to the U.S. drug supply comes from importing active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished prescription drug products from facilities that have not been inspected by the FDA and on which we otherwise have too little information. The other major threat is attributed to the complicated nature of our domestic drug distribution system, in which literally thousands of wholesalers buy and sell prescription medication in a domestic grey market marred by loose and inconsistent regulations, state and federal.
It’s clear that Pew does not view international online pharmacies as a major threat to the U.S. drug supply, but they did make a few points of caution. The report reads:
Online pharmacies are another way that problematic products can make their way into the United States. While not examined in depth in this paper, there is no doubt that by indiscriminately purchasing drugs from online sources, consumers expose themselves to a large safety risk. While many legitimate online pharmacies exist, there have also been documented sales of counterfeit, diverted, misbranded or adulterated medicine through online pharmacies. (more…)
Tagged with: After Heparin, Countefeit Drugs, Pew Drug Safety Report, Protecting Consumers, Substandard
