PharmacyChecker has proudly announced a new online pharmacy verification tool to make it easier for consumers to determine if a website is safe and accredited through the PharmacyChecker Verification Program. This verification portal can benefit patients, health care providers and caregivers considering lower-cost retail pharmacy options in Canada and other countries.
As we emphasized in our press release about the new portal, pharma-funded initiatives, like the “.Pharmacy Program” of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP), do not help Americans seeking lower-cost and safe medicine from Canada and other countries. The NABP advises Americans not to buy and import medication. The stated intent of the NABP’s “.Pharmacy Program” is to help consumers find “legitimate” online pharmacies, which are ones that have registered a “.pharmacy” domain (e.g., Walgreens.pharmacy, Kroger.pharmacy, Walmart.pharmacy). Such household name U.S. online pharmacies are usually ones approved in the NABP’s Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites (VIPPS) program.
It’s true that while small-scale importation from Canada is
feasible, larger scale importation is not.
The future lies in pharmaceutical international trade beyond just Canada to include countries such as Japan and those in the European Union. Expanding importation programs to include the EU and Japan was recommended by Jane Horvath in a wonderfully written op-ed in Stat News earlier this week. Ms. Horvath is the leading healthcare policy expert working with the National Academy for State Health Policy and the states on drug importation programs.
One of the Sustainable Development Goals, 3.8, created under UN auspices is: “Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.” Lower-income countries where majorities of citizens can’t afford basic healthcare are deserving of our urgent and generous help, but the pain and anguish faced by American families where people are dying because they can’t afford medicine must also be addressed.
Online access
to safe and affordable imported medicine can improve and even saves lives
of those who can’t afford medicine where they live. This is particularly the
case in the United States, where over 30 million people have no health
insurance at all, and approximately 87 million are not adequately insured [Commonwealth
Fund, 2019].
Organized under the support of the World Health Organization
(WHO), as part of the effort to achieve global healthcare goals, twelve
multilateral global health and development organizations are seeking public
comments to help them develop their “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives
and Well-being for All.” My comment is below.
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A source for news and analysis about drug prices and safety, online pharmacies and personal drug importation, published on behalf of American consumers.
