by PharmacyChecker.com | Jan 26, 2012 | Drug Prices
Americans who cannot, or struggle to, afford their medications scored a victory last week when the bills known as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act) were postponed indefinitely. The bills contained language that imperiled access to safe non-U.S. online pharmacies, including PharmacyChecker-approved websites. We addressed the main issues and growing opposition to this legislation last week.
We want to applaud the work of RxRights.org, which played a pivotal role in rallying Americans against SOPA and PIPA and in organizing the industry’s efforts to join the great Internet blackout of January 18th.
RxRights.com writes:
Your letters, emails, phone calls and visits to your Congresspeople made a difference. Last Wednesday, MILLIONS joined you in speaking out to express opposition to the bills during the big Internet blackout. In response to your powerful actions, the House and the Senate have put the bills on hold. Congratulations on a job well done and thank you for standing up for affordable medicine! (more…)
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 29, 2011 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
Our blog was created on behalf of the American consumer, to inform Americans, and the larger community interested in public health, about issues relating to personal drug importation, online pharmacies and drug prices. The three issues are inextricably linked; Americans are able to personally import prescription drugs from safe online pharmacies at affordable drug prices. This has helped millions of Americans, most without health insurance and, or, pharmacy benefits, afford needed medication. In fact, many Americans personally import safe medication that they would otherwise go without if their only options were U.S. pharmacies. Stopping them from doing so would be unacceptable, unethical, and a threat to the public health, and yet we find that is precisely the outcome for 2012 sought by the pharmaceutical and U.S. pharmacy industries.
Under U.S. law it is, in most circumstances, illegal to personally import prescription medication. For over a decade now, Americans have nonetheless taken matters into their own hands by acquiring the non-controlled medication they need outside the United States; and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has, for the most part, not stopped them. Throughout this period, the pharmaceutical industry has vigorously lobbied against personal drug importation to combat the price competition it brings, which means greater drug affordability for Americans but lower profits for pharmaceutical companies and sometimes U.S. pharmacies.
And their efforts have flourished. Over the past couple of years we have closely followed political, legislative and pharmaceutical industry initiatives to overhaul the status quo by bringing an end to online access to affordable medication. At the crux of these anti-consumer efforts is their communications strategy of deceptively attempting to link safe international online pharmacies, which require a valid prescription, with rogue online pharmacies that sell dangerous medication and don’t require a prescription, as if they operate a single black market in deadly counterfeit drugs that needs shutting down. Through these efforts, they have scared Americans away from safe and affordable medication, but their final goal is actually stopping the trade all together.
While there are safe online pharmacies, domestic and foreign, there is a real danger of counterfeit and deadly drugs sold throughout the world, including the United States’ own supply, and through rogue online pharmacies, so let’s attack the true dangers! However, it is neither morally defensible nor necessary to prevent Americans from online access to safe international online pharmacies that sell genuine and affordable medication, often at an 80% discount.
How loudly must we remind our leaders of the government’s own dire statistics? Twenty-five million Americans couldn’t afford to fill their prescription in 2009 (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Even worse, the Commonwealth Fund’s findings show that 48 million Americans did not fill a prescription in 2010 due to cost, a 66% increase in non-adherence since 2001 (see RxSOS). When people don’t take their medicine they can get sick and even die – and the reality is that too often they do.
Safe international online pharmacies may not be the long term solution to the emergency gripping the country in which so many go without needed medication due to cost, but for now such sites provide a lifeline for approximately one million Americans each year. Cutting that lifeline poses a danger to the public health and is just plain wrong.
In 2012 we hope our elected officials and policy-makers will have the courage to stop federal and legislative actions, mostly pushed by the pharmaceutical industry that would block online access to safe and affordable medication. Such leaders are desperately needed now by the tens of millions of Americans who can’t afford prescription drugs in the United States.
To help protect online access to safe and affordable medication we encourage Americans to join and work with RxRights.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to this cause.
Wishing You A Healthy and Happy New Year.
Gabriel Levit
Vice President
PharmacyChecker.com
Tagged with: Americans, drug affordability, elected leaders, government actions, pharmaceutical industry
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Dec 16, 2011 | Drug Prices, Personal Drug Importation
Two years ago, ABC News ran a segment (What Would You Do?) that showed Americans going out of their way to help strangers who could not afford their medication. Actors visited local pharmacies pretending they could not afford to pay for their much-needed prescription drugs – something that happens frequently in the U.S. Some people offered to help pay for part or all of the drug orders, and one man even left the pharmacy to get money from an ATM. In addition to financial assistance, these individuals also offered words of solidarity against the outrageous costs. Karen Wenberg (real person) told the woman (actress) she was helping: “Don’t be embarrassed. You know what? Medication is so f***ing expensive. There is no reason to be embarrassed… Sometimes we just pass on the good that’s been given to us.”
As we write this, Congress is marking up a new law, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), one supported by the Obama administration that could effectively block Americans from acquiring safe and affordable medication from online pharmacies outside the U.S. As the government seeks to rein in spending, why do they want to stop consumers from getting non-tax-payer funded, affordable medication? When people go without medication, they can become sick or get sicker, putting a great burden on the health care system. To see what the government is doing, read RxRight.org’s guest post on techdirt. (more…)
Tagged with: ABC, assistance, brand name drugs, Congress, drug affordability, drug benefits, generic drugs, healthcare, high cost, legislation, local pharmacies, Medicare, pharmaceutical industry, PharmacyChecker Verification Program, prescription abandonment, prescription drugs, RxRights.org, savings, SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act, tax-payers, tech dirt, United States, What Would You Do?
by PharmacyChecker.com | Dec 2, 2011 | Drug Prices, Generic drugs
Generic Lipitor, called atorvastatin, is now available in U.S. pharmacies but PharmacyChecker.com price data shows that it’s actually far more expensive than brand name Lipitor sold abroad. The bottom line with Lipitor and atorvastatin is that for the insured with pharmacy benefits, co-payments for Lipitor, whether brand or generic, will now be very low. But if you must pay for your prescription drugs out of pocket, you can save approximately 70% buying the brand name drug from international online pharmacies instead of the generic drug domestically. It can mean the difference of annual payments of $1300 for the generic product vs. $400 for the brand name.
Source data: PharmacyChecker.com Lipitor Price Comparisons
For more see our press release from yesterday: Generic Lipitor Still More Expensive Than Brand Name Lipitor in Other Countries.
Tagged with: brand, comparisons, drug coverage, generic drugs, Lipitor, Pfiizer, pharmacychecker.com, press release, price data, U.S. pharmacy
by PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 15, 2011 | Drug Prices, Generic drugs
Our last post highlighted the end-of-the-month release of the long-awaited generic version of Lipitor, the most popular cholesterol-lowering drug in America. Brand-name Lipitor, manufactured by drug giant Pfizer, has been one of the key contributors to American’s high drug bills for the past 15 years. A generic version will mean massive savings for some and basic affordability for many.
Last week, however, the New York Times shared that Pfizer (unsurprisingly) wants to block access to that affordable generic. Pfizer is going to offer “large discounts for benefit managers that block the use of generic versions of Lipitor” – “When patients submit a prescription for a generic version of Lipitor, they are to be given Lipitor instead.” So, those covered by the benefit managers who accept the discount will end up paying the same high co-pay, despite the availability of a lower priced drug!
These tactics by the largest drug manufacturer to keep drug prices higher are disappointing but not surprising. After all, in addition to lobbying the U.S. government to prevent safe personal drug importation, it funds programs to scare Americans away from buying its own medication at a lower price from Canada and other countries.
Pfizer’s latest move seems to only affect Americans with health insurance who, under the Pfizer/benefit manager deal, would pay $25 monthly co-pays (instead of $10 per month) – that’s $75 for a three month supply. That’s a stark contrast to Americans without health insurance who can pay $535.00 at a local CVS in New York City. By comparing prices of verified online pharmacies at PharmacyChecker.com, the uninsured may at least knock their monthly brand name Lipitor costs to $85.70.
Fortunately, due to the economics of generic drug competition, generic Lipitor prices will eventually offer great savings to the uninsured and we’ll be keeping you updated as those new products come to market.
Tagged with: brand-name, Cholesterol, co-pays, CVS, generic drugs, health insurance, insured, Lipitor, New York City, New York Times, PBM, Pfizer, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmacychecker.com, uninsured, United States
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Margaret Rode, PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 10, 2011 | Drug Prices, Generic drugs
As reported in the The Inquisitr, due to generic competition, Lipitor prices are going to plummet in the near future, a relief not only to American patients but to U.S. doctors who often find their patients not taking their cholesterol medication due to cost. In discussing his patients, Dr. Thomas Haffey stated in the article:
They often make tough decisions about whether they eat or whether they take the medicines… Any time you can reduce the costs of quality health care, we certainly are happy and encouraged about that.
High drug prices in the United States lead to 10s of millions of Americans not taking needed medication each year. The end of Pfizer’s patent on Lipitor means that Americans will now be able to more easily afford Atorvastatin – the generic name for Lipitor – in local U.S. pharmacies. As of the end of this month, according The Missourian, a three-month supply of generic Lipitor will cost $30. And the Inquisitr article suggests that within six months generic Lipitor will be priced at $5 for a one-month supply.
To maintain market share, Pfizer, the manufacturer of Lipitor, may come up with some competitive sales strategies. For instance, Pfizer may cut costs for insured Americans to only $4/month co-pays. Pfizer is also pushing to market an over-the-counter version of Lipitor, however it is not yet approved for sale.
According to our research, U.S. prices for a 90-day supply of Lipitor 20mg at a New York City CVS costs $535.99, compared to $85.70 at the lowest cost online pharmacy approved by PharmacyChecker.com – a savings of 84%. So if you want the brand name drug you may be better off with low-cost online pharmacies. But, come the end of November, the best prices for generic Lipitor will soon be available in the good old USA.
Tagged with: Atorvastatin, bricks and mortar, Cholesterol, co-pay, cost, coupon, CVS, generic, Lipitor, over-the-counter, patent, Pfizer, pharmacy, pharmacy checker.com, The Inquisitr, The Missourian, United States
