by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 6, 2020 | Drug Importation
Importation of prescription drugs to help lower prices for Americans will remain a major issue no matter who is president next year. The more we know about where our meds are made (mostly not here) the less successful drug industry lobbying will be against lower-cost, imported medicines.
In some cases, it’s as simple as a drug sold at a U.S. Walgreens is made in a manufacturing facility in one foreign country. For example, type 2 diabetes drug Jardiance (empagliflozin) is made in Italy. Another drug that treats type 2 diabetes, Januvia, is a little more complicated. Its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is made in Italy, but that API is formulated into the finished drug in the UK.
(more…)
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 29, 2020 | Drug Prices
Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov
I’m a Democrat and voting for Joe Biden. It’s good to be honest. Biden supporters may view my blog post more favorably, while Trump supporters might be more skeptical. I can live with that. You can all fact check me. But ask yourselves: “have my prescription drug costs gone down over the past four years”? If you want to respond in the comments, please do so politely. About 25% of Americans, many tens of millions of people, say they have a hard time affording their meds. As I mention below, we should all get along on this issue. It’s not only critical that we end the madness of high drug prices in America, but let’s unify when we agree!!
My quick and dirty position point here is that most of Trump’s efforts to lower drug prices have either failed and/or are simply political window dressing to help him get elected. Before my fellow Democrats turn up your noses, just know that Obama promised to take on Big Pharma, too, but he did not. For a positive spin, Trump’s bashing Big Pharma rhetoric may have future political reverberations on the Republican party in favor of real actions to lower drug prices.
(more…)Tagged with: trump
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Oct 21, 2020 | Drug Prices
This post was originally published on Prescription Justice.
The highest score in the Prescription Justice Congressional Report Card on Drug Prices – 100 – goes to Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), with a grade of A+. The only other A+ in the House goes to Rep. Perter Welch (D-VT), who landed a score of 99.5.
In simple terms: Rep. Schakowsky gets the high score because she was incredibly committed, active and vocal about lowering drug prices – and barely takes money from drug companies: just over $1000. If all members of Congress hopped on the drug price lowering bandwagon just like Rep. Schakowsky, the crisis of high drug prices in America would end.
(more…)
