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Helping Americans Get The Truth About Prescription Drug Savings
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Nineteen million Americans Have Imported Medication for Personal Use to Pay Less and Happy New Year

New Year's Eve Times Square CrowdAs we close out 2016, I’m not surprised to be reporting and commenting on new survey data by the Kaiser Family Foundation showing that 19 million Americans have purchased and imported lower cost medication from Canada and other countries. I suspect the number is higher and I’m sure it’s not high enough, as I’ll discuss at the conclusion of this post.

First, as reported in Kaiser Health News: “As drug prices have spiraled upward in the past decade, tens of millions of generally law-abiding Americans have committed an illegal act in response: They have bought prescriptions outside the U.S. and imported them.” The Kaiser story also reports that many such purchases are made online and while the FDA warns that many online pharmacies are not safe, “…many medicines purchased from another country are the same as the ones patients buy in the U.S.” That’s all true. The key to safety when buying medications internationally is only purchasing from properly verified websites, ones approved by PharmacyChecker.

Just to recap why importation is a lifeline, let’s look at some highlights from recent data. (more…)

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How to Afford EpiPen with a Safe International Online Pharmacy

The price of the lifesaving injection Epinephrine, which is prescribed for people with serious allergies, is out of control, surging by 480% . . The lowest price for two injections at a PharmacyChecker.com-approved online pharmacy is just over $200.

By Intropin (Own work), Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons [(CC BY 3.0)]

The price of the life-saving injection epinephrine, which is prescribed for people with serious allergies, is out of control, surging by 480% since 2009, CBS News reports. But American parents are actually choosing to forgo buying it because of the cost. Enough! For EpiPen Jr, the brand usually prescribed to kids, the lowest price U.S. option found on GoodRx is $614 for a package of two. The lowest price for two injections at a PharmacyChecker.com-approved online pharmacy is just over $200. That means a potential $400 – 66% – savings. Much more than the numbers: for some parents this is the difference between buying or not buying a medication that can save their kid’s life.

I’m a parent and this makes me sick and angry. But what will doubly disgust me today is if I read some Pharma-funded bull about unsafe medication in other countries that might scare a parent away from lower cost Epinephrine. This is life and death for kids. Only the truth is acceptable. The EpiPen Jr is marketed by generic drug giant Mylan in the U.S. But lower cost options internationally are either manufactured or licensed by Pfizer, the drug’s innovator, which should take the wind out of the sails of bogus arguments about “foreign drugs.”

 

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Generic Cialis (tadalafil): Is it real and can you trust it?

PharmacyChecker AsnwersWe received the following question about Cialis and generic tadalafil.

Question. I am about to begin a one-year treatment of Cialis to help recover from prostate surgery. My question is where can I find information that will give me confidence to use the generic tadalafil. This could result in a huge savings over the life of the treatment.

Thank you for your consideration.

PharmacyChecker Experts Answer

You can get information right here!  (more…)

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Is Generic Viagra Legitimate? The New York Times Says…

buying generic Viagra online

Depends where you buy it online…

This question was posed in the New York Times Ask Well blog this week. We were pleased that PharmacyChecker.com was recommended as an information source for finding credentialed international online pharmacies that sell Pfizer’s brand name Viagra. On the other hand, we were frustrated that the Times answered this question wrongly by writing “In short, no.” Fact: Lawfully manufactured and distributed generic Viagra – sildenafil citrate – is available in Canada and at Canadian pharmacies. Just go to Health Canada’s drug database and you’ll find it – right here [Type in Sildenafil and hit search]. And it has been sold as a generic in Indian pharmacies, lawfully, for a very long time.

So the answer to the blog post’s question is – in fact – yes.

Prices? The price of a Pfizer branded Viagra 100mg pill in many U.S. pharmacies is $50, compared to $7-10 from many safe international online pharmacies. The generic pill sells for as little as a buck.   (more…)

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Operation Pangea and Online Pharmacies: Throwing out the Baby with the Bathwater?

"I represent safe and affordable imported medication. This bathwater is dangerous rogue pharmacy sites!"

“I represent safe and affordable imported medication. This bathwater is dangerous rogue pharmacy websites!”

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published a press release about Operation Pangea, an annual global initiative led by INTERPOL “to combat the unlawful sale and distribution of illegal and potentially counterfeit medical products on the internet.” This is the ninth annual operation, and each year I wonder if FDA will throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

There are, according to FDA’s own sources, tens of thousands of drug-selling websites. Most of them are considered “rogue” by PharmacyChecker.com. Where the FDA and Operation Pangea successfully shut down sites (whether lawful or not) that intentionally sell counterfeit medications, or even online pharmacies that sell real medications but without the qualifications or pharmacy safety protocols to do so, we applaud their actions. Shutting down dangerous online pharmacies – throwing out the bathwater – is noble.

In February of last year we submitted a policy paper that I wrote to congressional committees with jurisdiction over laws and regulations that affect access to safe and affordable medications. Entitled “Online Pharmacies, Persona Drug Importation, and Public Health,” I argued that safe international online pharmacies are a boon to public health because they enable consumers to afford prescribed medications, and that overzealous enforcement of drug importation regulation could negatively affect access to those sites. Actions taken by FDA and through Operation Pangea would seem to cross the line from public health to Big Pharma profit protection where they curtail access to the safest international online pharmacies, which is throwing out the baby.

(more…)

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Your prescription is required to order from a PharmacyChecker-approved online pharmacy

PharmacyChecker.com-Approved Online Pharmacies will require your valid prescription.

Rx Required!!

Question. Do online pharmacies in the PharmacyChecker Verification Program require a prescription?

PharmacyChecker Answers: Absolutely. Under our program’s rule, all PharmacyChecker.com-approved online pharmacies must require a prescription for you to obtain medication that requires a prescription. This is just one of the many important standards which define our program.

Why is this so important? First, online pharmacies which don’t require a prescription are more likely to sell you a counterfeit or poor quality medication. Second, you should be under medical supervision when taking prescribed medication.

So, if you order from a PharmacyChecker-approved online pharmacy you’ll learn firsthand that you’d better have a script in hand!

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