There’s Rx Savings for Americans in Canada and Elsewhere If Needed!
Last week, we issued our first PharmacyChecker.com quarterly International Drug Price Savings Report, which showed that American consumers can potentially save, on average, 70% on 20 top-prescribed brand name drugs when buying from a Canadian pharmacy approved in our Verification Program. The report shows international pharmacy savings by country or group of countries: U.S., Canada, Australia/New Zealand/UK, India, and Turkey. We intend to issue this savings report every three months.
We chose the 20 medications based on IMS Health data on the most popularly prescribed non-controlled medications in 2015, and the prices were collected during February and March 2017. Ten of the medications are available in the U.S. as a generic, in which case American consumers will often – but not always – find the lowest prices locally.
Something unexpected happened at a dog and pony show staged at the National Press Club on April 4, where the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM) gave its campaign against prescription drug importation and international online pharmacies the imprimatur of technocratic expertise. Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew Von Eschenbach, in opposing importation as unsafe, and “frightening” said that 29 countries have regulatory systems for drug safety comparable to the U.S. Was that a mistake? No. We need to get that list of 29 countries and create standards for distribution and refine guidance for consumers to help more Americans import lower cost medications from those countries.
I derived the number 29 because Dr. Eschenbach said: “of the 96 countries around the world that can supply drugs only 30% have a functional regulatory infrastructure that’s comparable to the one that we have at the Food and Drug Administration.” Simple math showed 30% of 96 is 28.8. I rounded to 29!
Granted, Dr. Eschenbach would say that I was taking his words out of context. (more…)
In her new book, American Sickness, Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD, an award-winning journalist, currently chief editor of Kaiser Health News, and formerly with the New York Times, recommends visiting PharmacyChecker.com to consumers who choose to import more affordable medications for themselves or their family members via online pharmacies.
In general, Ms. Rosenthal’s book explains why our healthcare system is such a mess in terms of consumer and government costs; who is responsible; how we can make things better – and most importantly – what consumers can do NOW to take on the special interests and save money. It’s a great book for citizens, healthcare advocates and policy makers who want a deeper understanding of what ails our healthcare system. (more…)
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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.
