by PharmacyChecker.com | Jun 5, 2015 | Advocacy, Government, Online Pharmacies, Policy, Prescription Drug Reports, Rogue Online Pharmacies
For the past three months or so, we’ve published a section a week of our report called “Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation and Public Health.” The report was written to call attention to a woefully flawed and highly misleading report published by the Government Accountability Office about Internet pharmacies and how best to carry out enforcement actions to protect consumers from rogue online pharmacies. Rogue pharmacy websites that endanger public health require serious efforts by regulators and law enforcement personnel, domestically and globally. However, instead of focusing all efforts on the tens of thousands of rouge pharmacy websites polluting the Internet, the federal government and private industry are also targeting the safest international online pharmacies, ones that Americans rely on to obtain affordable medication. Why?
Through this series on our blog, we’ve tried to draw the attention and understanding of our elected leaders and the public-at-large to the fact that the pharmaceutical industry, along with U.S. chain pharmacies, are clearly the ones driving policy, including enforcement priorities when it comes to the issue of online access to safe and affordable medication. In some cases, drug companies are directly funding law enforcement officials. And those companies don’t want Americans obtaining much more affordable and safe medication from pharmacies outside the U.S. And with that, we publish the conclusion to our report.
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Tagged with: chain pharmacies, GAO, Government Accountability Office, pharmaceutical industry, public health, rogue online pharmacies
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 12, 2015 | Advocacy, Government, Online Pharmacies, Policy, Politics
Well, here we go again, another bill that would formally legalize a practice that has been going on for decades: Americans importing meds from Canadian pharmacies, at the very least to cut down on their drug bills, and in some cases even to afford life-saving medicines. Sorry to sound cynical, but I’ve seen these bills before and Big Pharma is always behind their failure – but what about this time?
The bill, H.R. 2228, was introduced by Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) barely a week ago and co-sponsored by Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), and is entitled “Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015.” It seems to mirror legislation in the Senate, S. 122, introduced by Sens. John McCain (R-NV) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), which has the same title.
The bills are focused on Canadian pharmacies only, not the wider landscape of international online pharmacies, which are often based in Canada: ones that millions of Americans have benefited from for over a decade. If H.R. 2228 passes, the FDA would be required to publish a list of approved Canadian pharmacies from which Americans could legally import, for personal use, non-controlled, non-biologic, and non-temperature sensitive, prescription medications. That would include the majority of maintenance prescription drugs that Americans are currently importing for personal use.
I support this bill 100%. Even though our program is open to safe and licensed pharmacies in other countries, not just ones in Canada and the U.S., the new bill moves the public policy and economic justice needle in the right direction. The practice of international pharmacy began with Americans crossing the border to buy lower cost medications in Canada and then, with the advent of the Internet, buying through mail order. Current law, technically, bans the practice and, unjustly, views it as a criminal act – even though no one has been prosecuted for it. The new bill in the House and Senate would lift the unethical ban on buying lower cost medications for their own use from Canada. Amen and Word Up to that!
So head on over to RxRights.org to contact your elected representatives and let them know you want them to vote for the Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015!
Tagged with: affordable prescriptions, Big Pharma, Canadian pharmacies, H.R. 2228, House of Representatives, legalizing personal drug importation, personal drug importation, RxRights.org, S.122, Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2015, Senate, United States
by PharmacyChecker.com | Apr 9, 2015 | Advocacy, Drug Prices
Access Our Medicine, a group whose mission is to “raise public awareness and engagement in the global problem of access to medicine” has launched a Thunderclap campaign to amplify its reach. While Access Our Medicine has a global focus, millions of Americans go without medication each year because of high costs; the Thunderclap campaign will help amplify these voices by sending out thousands of messages at once advocating for affordable medicine.
If you believe, as we do at PharmacyChecker.com, that everyone should have access to affordable medicine, THEN SIGN THE PETITION NOW!
Tagged with: Access our Medicine
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Feb 13, 2015 | Advocacy, Drug Safety, Online Pharmacy Verification Services
When it comes to prescription drugs and the public health, safety and affordability have to be considered together. People are at risk if they obtain medication that doesn’t work because it’s counterfeit, adulterated or substandard. At the same time, a perfectly safe and effective prescription drug will not help someone who cannot afford it. We help protect the public health by obtaining, verifying and providing information about online pharmacies and prescription drug prices that consumers can use to help maximize access to safe and affordable medication.
As we’ve said time and again, the key is to stay away from rogue online pharmacies by sticking with pharmacy sites publishing a valid PharmacyChecker.com seal, or accreditations from the Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites program or LegitScript. Many members, but not all, of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association are verified by PharmacyChecker.com as well.
For healthcare providers and consumers looking to understand who we are, what we do, and how to use our information, we publish “Protecting the Public Health: Verifying Pharmacy Websites to Help Consumers Find Affordable Medication and Avoid Rogue Online Pharmacies.”
For those interested in more specifics on our online pharmacy safety policies, requirements and standards please see our detailed guidance document about our verification program.
We welcome your questions or comments about our programs and policies: info@pharmacychecker.com.
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 30, 2014 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Personal Drug Importation, Politics
The fight for access to safe and affordable medication will continue in 2015. As 2014 ends we find the price of medication continuing to escalate. AARP’s recent drug price report showed that brand name drug prices had increased by 13% in 2013, eight times the rate of inflation. The costs of generic drugs are going through the roof, some by astronomical amounts – to the tune of thousands of percent. Then of course 2014 brought us Sovaldi at $1000/pill, which is just the tip of the iceberg, as many more outrageously priced “specialty medications” are coming down the pipeline in 2015. New drugs that save lives and help people get better are great…but only if they are affordable.
In the holiday spirit, Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota published a Christmas-themed op-ed last week called “How the Drug Companies Play Scrooge,” as in Ebenezer Scrooge, the greedy miser in Charles Dickens’ famous story A Christmas Carol. Klobuchar’s ghosts of Christmas past, present and future are, respectively, rampant drug price increases; the highest drug prices in the world by far; and the continuing assault on the pocketbooks of Americans by pharmaceutical companies unless Congress acts. Interestingly, Sen. Klobuchar’s metaphor compares Scrooge to Congress (not the pharmaceutical industry). She writes: “if Ebenezer Scrooge can be transformed from a crotchety, thoughtless, “bah humbug” miser to a generous steward of good will to all after only one night of ghostly visits, certainly there is hope for Congress.”
What can Congress do to end its Scrooge-like protection of big pharma? Sen. Klobuchar recommends three legislative solutions. Congress should pass legislation that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies under the same protocols permitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Currently, federal law actually bans such negotiations. Under one estimate, due to the VA’s ability to negotiate prices, drug prices are 40% lower when obtained through the VA than through Medicare.
Ending what Sen. Klobuchar calls “illegal pay-to-delay” deals between brand name and generic pharmaceutical companies, which postpone market availability of lower cost generic drugs, is another solution that can be addressed legislatively. Legislation introduced by Klobuchar and Sen. Charles Grassley would give the Federal Trade Commission more authority to stop those deals. Sen. Klobuchar asserts that the savings from ending pay-to-delay could be $4.7 billion for the U.S. budget and $3.5 billion for consumers.
Last but not least, Sen. Klobuchar recommends helping American consumers to personally import lower cost medication by passing The Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act. This legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain from Arizona, would essentially codify the current practice of Americans buying lower cost medication from Canadian pharmacies. We support this bill but believe it needs to be expanded to include pharmacies in many other countries from which lower cost and safe medication can be and currently are obtained.
Congressional opponents of Klobuchar’s personal drug importation bill, the most vociferous among them surely raking in huge donations from big pharmaceutical companies, will argue that the Act will open the door to counterfeit drugs and rogue online pharmacies. The fact that counterfeit drugs and rogue online pharmacies exist, however, is not an argument against facilitating safe personal drug importation from verified international online pharmacies. Five million Americans already import medication for their own use. Consumers who purchase from safe international online pharmacies, such as those in the PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program, are able to save thousands of dollars a year. For many, personal importation of lower cost medication is the only option for obtaining needed prescription drugs.
While the FDA doesn’t prosecute Americans who import medications for their own use, federal law still holds that, under most circumstances, it is a crime!! It’s understandable that prescription drug importation meant for re-sale in U.S. pharmacies is regulated to that extent that those who violate the laws are subject to penalties. In contrast, people who need to import medication for their own use because they can’t afford the prices at U.S. pharmacies should not be subject to criminal enforcement of any kind, ever. So I hope that Senator Klobuchar and her colleagues, in addition to her recommendations identified above, introduce and pass a bill to amend federal law to decriminalize personal drug importation. By doing so Congress would bring prescription justice to Americans who are haunted by the scary ghosts, past, present and future, of the pharmaceutical industry.
Happy Holidays and New Year from PharmacyChecker.com!!
Tagged with: decriminalization, klobuchar, legislation
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 26, 2014 | Advocacy, Medication non-adherence
People should not have to go without one or the other
As we settle in to our Thanksgiving dinners tomorrow, let’s not forget the many millions of Americans who cut back on groceries each year to pay for medication or simply go without. How prevalent is this travesty? According to Consumer Reports, 21% of American adults with a prescription benefit and 39% without a prescription benefit are cutting back on groceries each year.
According to Hunger in America 2014, 14% of Americans receive charitable food assistance each year – about 46.5 million people. Of those people, 66% had to choose between “paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care in the past year, with 31 percent reporting facing this tradeoff every month.” That’s about 31 million Americans choosing between food and medical care/medicine each year.
The Consumer Reports survey shows that millions of middle class Americans are suffering under the burden of high drug prices. The Hunger in America 2014 survey shows how dramatically the poor are affected.
There is poverty in other advanced economies as well but with much lower rates of people struggling to afford food and medicine. We can do better in America. We hope that PharmacyChecker.com helps alleviate the burden of prescription drug costs and prevents sickness and lives lost when people find medication they can afford by using our information.
A healthy and happy Thanksgiving,
PharmacyChecker Team
Tagged with: food, food or medicine, hunger
