by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 25, 2020 | Public Health
In Thanksgiving seasons past, I have written posts connecting the problems of high drug prices and hunger in America. Where people and households are struggling to afford food, there’s a greater likelihood that they are forgoing needed medical treatments, including prescription drugs. The problem is far worse for people with chronic medical conditions. This may seem intuitive and obvious, but for those wanting some academic research to chew on, take a look at this from The American Journal of Medicine:
(more…)
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 19, 2020 | Politics and policy
Forgetting about the potential dangers to competition from corporate Leviathan Amazon, that it launched a new online pharmacy this week will certainly appeal to tens of millions of Americans. Prescription drugs are yet another thing you can get when you go to Amazon.com. And if you’re an Amazon Prime member (aren’t we all?), then there are discounts and whip-fast delivery to be had. But, unlike in many other industries where Amazon can crush the competition on prices, its online pharmacy launch does not accomplish that. Brand name drugs, ones without and even with generic competition, are similarly priced to other American pharmacies. PharmacyChecker checked this out and has some good advice for consumers about Amazon’s pharmacy at Ask PharmacyChecker this week.
Overall, brand name drugs do not appear to be any cheaper using Amazon Pharmacy than what you can get using a discount card found on GoodRx or PharmacyChecker. How can they when the pharmaceutical industry has monopolistic pricing power over patented drugs? Amazon is subject to the same average wholesale acquisition costs as Walgreens. Not only do drug manufacturers have patents: they have special international trade protections where companies cannot import these same drugs from foreign wholesalers who charge much lower prices in Canada, not to mention the even lower prices in the UK and European Union countries – unless the drug manufacturers do the importing or authorize it.
(more…)Tagged with: amazon pharmacy, Bernie Sanders, Jeff Bezos
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 12, 2020 | Drug Importation
The new federal rule on drug importation from Canada, drafted pursuant to Section 804 of the FDCA, does not allow for the importation of foreign versions of FDA-approved drugs. It only allows for the importation of FDA-approved drugs. I’m writing this in response to a paper written by Thomas J. Bollyky and Aaron S. Kesselheim called “Reputation and Authority FDA and the Fight over U.S. Prescription Drug Importation.” Some people who read their paper may be confused.
Kesselheim and Bollyky assert that there are “three avenues for legal importation of prescription drugs that are not FDA approved.” The first example is personal drug importation, the second is importation from Canada under the new federal rule, and the third is shortages. I will address the second.
By “not FDA approved,” they must mean foreign-versions of FDA-approved drugs. After all, the law only allows for the sale of FDA-approved drugs within the United States. The new importation rule doesn’t change that basic fact.
(more…)
