by PharmacyChecker.com | Jul 13, 2011 | Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
We’re pleased to announce that we have translated our Guide called How To Save Money on Prescription Drugs, Safely – A Consumer Guide into Spanish, expanding access to our online pharmacy savings information to the Spanish-speaking community. Along with our PharmacyChecker Spanish homepage, and About Online Pharmacies page – Farmacias virtuales y de entrega por correo: Lo que usted debe saber – the Guide can be an exceedingly valuable resource for uninsured and under-insured Spanish-speaking people who live in the United States.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 14.3% of American Hispanics did not take their prescribed medication in 2009 due to cost.The situation is much worse for Hispanic non-citizens, 29 percent who said they did not take their medication due to cost. These dire statistics prove that greater access to affordable medication is most acutely needed by the Hispanic community. We believe that our Guide can help the Hispanic community better access the medicines they need safely.
For more information on our Spanish-Language Consumer Guide, see our recent Press Release – and access the Guide itself, published on our English and Spanish homepages PharmacyChecker.com and PharmacyChecker.com/default_sp.asp.
Tagged with: affordability, community, consumer guide, Hispanic, Latinos, Online Pharmacies, prescription drugs, press release, safety, save money, Spanish, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jul 1, 2011 | Drug Importation, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
Per the FDA’s invitation for regulation reviews and comments as listed by the Federal Registrar, our vice president, Gabriel Levitt, submitted PharmacyChecker.com’s positions and suggestions pertaining to online pharmacies and personal drug importation.
Our first point is that there is inaccurate information provided for consumers on the FDA’s website relating to online pharmacies and drug safety. Consumers are misled to believe that any pharmacy not located in the United States is dangerous, or non-reputable, while experience and studies show that properly verified international online pharmacies are safe. Additionally, the FDA’s website communicates that only FDA-approved drugs are checked for safety and effectiveness, a claim for which there is no basis. In fact, some so-called “non FDA-approved” drugs are the exact same drugs made by Pfizer or Merck, for example, just labeled or colored differently.
We then recommend revisions to Section 9.2 of the FDA Regulatory Procedures Manual Imports and Exports, which guides FDA practices in enforcing our drug importation laws. We recommend that FDA’s personal drug importation policy explicitly disallow government officials from seizing personally imported prescription orders destined for Americans that they know are genuine and dispensed pursuant to a prescription. The ethical and economic basis for our recommendation is that prescription non-adherence (not taking your meds) often furthers illness, leading to more emergency room visits, costing the nation hundreds of billions in healthcare dollars.
Finally, we ask that the FDA ban enforcement actions against foreign companies that are known to operate safe international mail-order pharmacies. Studies show that cost is the number one reason that Americans do not take their medications, and cutting off access to these safe and affordable pharmacies means fewer Americans will take their prescribed medicines.
Our full submission can be accessed here.
Tagged with: Consumer Information, Docket No. FDA-2011-N-0259, Drug, Enforcement, FDA, NABP, Periodic Review of Existing Regulations
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jun 7, 2011 | Drug Prices
In March of this year the FDA took the unusual step of allowing an “unapproved” compounded drug to remain on the market to explicitly make sure Americans could afford that product. That drug is hydroxyprogesterone caproate, branded by K-V Pharmaceuticals as Makena, the first FDA-approved drug to prevent the risk of preterm birth in certain women. Will more such government interventions continue in support of drug affordability?
According to the Wall Street Journal Blog,“Typically, whenever a drug is approved, pharmacy compounding isn’t allowed and the FDA acts to remove any unapproved drugs that might on be the U.S. market.” However, the FDA is allowing the compound to remain solely because of the outrageous cost for the brand-name product; Makena is priced at $1,500 per dose! Before Makena was approved, the same drug without the K-V branding and FDA stamp of approval cost between $10 – 20 per dose.
To the best of our knowledge, the FDA’s role does not include controlling prices to help Americans have access to the medication they need. However, that is precisely what the FDA did in the case of Makena. In our opinion, that’s also what the FDA does by not enforcing certain personal drug importation laws that, if enforced, would prevent Americans from affording needed medication. Currently, under its personal drug importation policy, the FDA has stated it does not take enforcement action against individuals who import non-controlled medicines, which are generally (and ironically) viewed as not FDA-approved even if they’re the exact same drug sold here, often due to labelling or pill color and shape differences between otherwise identical products. (more…)
Tagged with: Americans, Avanair Pharmaceuticals, Colcrys, Compound drugs, Drug Importation, FDA, FDA-approved, hydroxyprogesterone caproate, K-V Pharmaceuticals, lawmakers, Makena, non-controlled medicines, Not FDA-approved, Nuedexta, personal drug importation, Pharmaceutical Prices, policy, U.S. Government, URL Pharma, Wall Street Journal
