by PharmacyChecker.com | Apr 16, 2015 | Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation, Policy, Politics
What does the data actually show about the safety of buying medication online? Is it really dangerous to buy lower cost medication from a pharmacy in another country over the Internet? Do drug companies fund research in this area?
This week, in our continuing quest to get the truth out and for our elected leaders in Congress to take bold action to protect online access to safe and affordable medication, we’re publishing the next section of our report called Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation, and Public Health… (more…)
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Mar 27, 2015 | Drug Importation, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
An article by Joe Rothstein in EIN News concerning personal drug importation and online pharmacies recently caught our eye for two reasons. First, Mr. Rothstein called out the pharmaceutical industry for funding groups that give poor advice to consumers about buying medication online. Second, Mr. Rothstein identified PharmacyChecker.com as a source for “providing a list of certified Canadian suppliers who sell at prices usually well below the cost of U.S. pharmacies.” It is true that we do that, but our efforts extend far beyond Canada; we also verify and inspect pharmacies in many other countries, which was not mentioned in the article.
So what’s the issue? Remember, that according to the FDA, personally importing medication under most circumstances is technically illegal. Of course, many of us believe that it can be and is done very safely. Mr. Rothstein’s article states “…defenders of the importation law argue that thousands of phony online sites claim to be ‘Canadian’ to fool the unwary, and for self-protection consumers should avoid Canadian sites entirely.” Opponents of personal drug importation use those quotes around Canadian because they believe that dangerous rogue online pharmacies deceive consumers by claiming to be Canadian, only to ship medication from another country. On this count we agree with Big Pharma, however there are also safe Canadian online pharmacies that do refer prescription orders to licensed pharmacies in other countries. (more…)
Tagged with: Canadian Pharmacy, EIN News, international online pharmacies, Joe Rothstein
by Tod Cooperman, MD, President, PharmacyChecker.com, and Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com | Feb 26, 2015 | Drug Importation, Government, Personal Drug Importation
Unfortunately, a Maine state law that was created to help people access lower cost medication from licensed pharmacies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, was invalidated yesterday in a decision by federal court Judge Nancy Torresen. Basically the judge, invoking a legal doctrine called “preemption,” concluded that federal law beats state law when it comes to foreign commerce, and since federal law technically bans personal drug importation under most circumstances, Maine’s law is trumped. I’ll return at the end to deal with a little legalese fun (but not too much!).
Taking a walk down memory lane here: personal drug importation programs in Maine, such as one operated for the City of Portland, Portland Meds since 2004, which has helped Americans save many millions of dollars, were shut down in 2012 by former State Attorney General William Schneider. The programs were shut down because Maine’s pharmacy groups persuaded AG Schneider that Canadian and all foreign pharmacies should be stopped from mail order pharmacy sales into Maine because they are not licensed in Maine. Most U.S. states require pharmacies based elsewhere to obtain an out-of-state pharmacy license if they want to sell medication by mail to their residents. While there are exceptions, most states do not allow pharmacies in other countries to obtain an out-of-state license.
Maine legislators were angered by this action and passed a law, LD 171 “An Act To Facilitate the Personal Importation of Prescription Drugs from International Mail Order Prescription Pharmacies,” that exempted licensed pharmacies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK from having to obtain an out-of-state Maine pharmacy license. Not only was this law passed on a bi-partisan basis but the vote was overwhelming: Maine’s House voted 107-37: the Senate voted 30-4. And with that the personal drug importation programs resumed.
The law was invalidated, now what?
Programs like Portland Meds will not necessarily shutdown. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. But if they do shutdown then thousands of Mainers will be paying more for their medications. More seriously, some Mainers will likely end up skipping their medications because the prices at their local pharmacies are too high for them. Back in 2012, an owner of one company that worked with CanaRx, a Canadian pharmacy benefit company, admitted that by working with licensed foreign pharmacies his company saved money: but there was more to the story than simply a company saving money. Quoting a journalist from the Bangor Daily News:
While acknowledging that Hardwood Products “as a company is trying to save money,” Young said his greatest fear is that a spike in costs will spur his employees to stop taking medications for conditions such as diabetes and asthma.
“We have many people here who are hourly employees,” he said. “We pay a fair wage, but the impact out of the family net income will be significant. More important than the money is the health and well being of the employees and their families. What dollar figure do you put on that?”
…but all hope is not even close to lost! Americans still have access to safe and more affordable medication available online, and, again, Maine’s programs have not yet shut down. Equally as important to the longer term cause of prescription justice, the ruling leaves the door open for the State of Maine to appeal the decision up the legal food chain to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. If Maine wins then other states may follow its lead by passing similar legislation to promote access to lower costs medications from other countries.
I’m pretty certain that, with the requisite political will from Maine’s legislators, citizen rabblerousing, and some good legal marksmanship, there are ways to overcome and defeat Judge Torresen’s ruling.
To conclude, I’d like to challenge something Judge Torresen opined in her ruling to nullify Maine’s foreign pharmacy law:
“Congress enacted the FDCA [Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act] to bolster consumer protection against harmful products.”…In furtherance of this purpose, Congress has created a complex regulatory scheme covering the importation of pharmaceuticals into the United States…
Is that so? Maybe…in part. However, I believe that banning Americans from importing lower cost and safe prescription medication from licensed pharmacies for their own use does nothing to bolster consumer protection against harmful products but quite a lot to bolster protection of big drug company and U.S. chain pharmacy profits. I know that the ban impedes Americans from taking medications they need and forces more financial hardship. Are these facts that could hold up in court? I think so.
Tagged with: CanaRx, legal, Maine, Torresen
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 8, 2015 | Counterfeit Drugs, Drug Prices, Generic drugs, Personal Drug Importation
I wish I was joking about the racy headline above. The United States is not the only great power in which citizens go without medication because of cost. The cancer drug Gleevec (imatinib), made by Novartis, costs 23,500 yuan, or about U.S. $3,783, per month, in China. Gleevec is not covered by health insurance in China so people there must pay for it out of pocket. Ten years ago, Lu Yong was diagnosed with chronic myelocytic leukemia and was prescribed Gleevec. After facing bankruptcy due to his drug costs, Lu discovered a generic version of Gleevec, called Veenat, and began purchasing it by mail-order from India where it is an approved drug, at a cost of only 3,000 yuan, or about $482, per month — 87% less than the brand name drug.
Lu’s condition improved quickly using the generic version. He began to help people with leukemia who he met online obtain Veenat. Now, according to the English edition of Caixin, an independent Beijing-based media outlet, he is facing criminal charges for credit card fraud and selling counterfeit medication. The same story was covered by official Chinese media under the headline “Leukemia patient prosecuted for buying pills overseas.” Lu has helped 1,000 people with leukemia obtain treatment. Three hundred of them are petitioning the authorities to have his name cleared.
The medications involved are real and clearly life-saving! So why is Lu being prosecuted for counterfeit drugs? Under Chinese law, any drug not specifically licensed for sale in China, even a genuine medication lawfully manufactured by an authorized drug company, is considered counterfeit.
The charge of credit card fraud was based on Lu’s using a foreign credit card to make the purchases. Lu said he did so because using domestic Chinese bank-issued credit cards for international purchases is nearly impossible.
Lu was not charged for procuring his own cancer medication. The charges were for directly facilitating the purchase of the drug for 1000 people, who consequently regard Lu as a hero.
When people can’t afford to obtain life-saving medication locally, the U.S, and all countries, should consider themselves morally obligated to expressly permit their citizens to obtain it internationally.
Tagged with: China, Gleevec, imatinib
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 21, 2014 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Generic drugs, Personal Drug Importation, Politics
From Pembroke Consulting, published on DrugChannels.net
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held a hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Aging and Health entitled “Why Are Some Generic Drugs Skyrocketing in Price?” Bizarre drug price increases of 1,000% and up are becoming more common. This problem is not new: in the beginning of this year the People’s Pharmacy reported a 6,000% increase in the price Doxycycline!
Senator Sanders noted that the price of Digoxin, which treats congestive heart failure, has increased 883% from 12 cents to $1.06 per pill from 2013 to 2014. Migraine drug Divalproex Sodium ER spiked 881% from 27 cents to $2.38 per pill.
We are always ecstatic when Congress scrutinizes the obscene drug prices in America, and we applaud Sen. Sanders, but our focus is on what can be done now so that people today don’t go without needed medications. In his introductory remarks, Sen. Sanders said: “Drug prices in the country are by far the highest in the world.” Let’s elaborate on that. (more…)
Tagged with: Bernie Sanders, Digoxin, Divalproex Sodium ER, FDA, generic drugs, Pembroke Consulting
