by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Mar 1, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Prices, Personal Drug Importation
Prescription drug prices rose 3.6% in America during 2012, more than twice the 1.7% inflation rate, according to a recent USA Today article citing Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Other healthcare costs, including doctor visits, lab tests, and nursing home expenditures increased less than the inflation rate.
Unfortunately, high drug prices are an urgent health crisis in America. An estimated 150 million prescriptions go unfilled each year and 25 million Americans report becoming sicker because they skip medicine, all due to cost. For more on the deadly problem of drug prices, visit RxSOS. These dramatic price increases have a very real effect on American health, and makes the work we do at PharmacyChecker.com all the more important for Americans struggling to afford medication to find safe and affordable medication online
Tagged with: Unfilled Prescriptions
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 31, 2012 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Medication non-adherence, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation, Pharmaceutical Industry, Skipping medications
The Deadly Problem of High Drug Costs and How Personal Drug Importation Helps
High prescription drug prices continue to be a public health crisis in America and the problem appears to have worsened throughout 2012. The added healthcare costs to the economy caused by Americans not taking their medication have increased from $290 billion to $313 billion. According to a study by the New England Healthcare Institute, over one million Americans die each year because they do not correctly take needed medications or do not take them at all. Though not all of those deaths are due to cost, it’s fair to estimate that hundreds of thousands of Americans are dying each year because drug costs are the number one reason for people not taking prescribed medications. It follows that all avenues of access to safe and affordable medication save lives, including access to safe online pharmacies with the lowest drug prices, international or domestic, which are a real lifeline for American consumers. Therefore, the federal statute banning personal drug importation under most circumstances doesn’t change the fact that current access to safe personal drug importation is good for the public health.
Savings Online Internationally Have Increased; U.S. Has Best Deals on Generics
Online pharmacy savings increased in 2012 due to lower international pharmacy prices coupled with extreme drug price increases – 13 % — in the United States. The potential savings on popular brand name drugs increased to 85% in November 2012 from 80% in March 2011, according to PharmacyChecker.com research. Online pharmacy savings are greatest on brand name medications, which when purchased internationally often help Americans save thousands of dollars each year. Some American lives are saved by online access to international pharmacies. In stark contrast to pricing on brand name drugs, U.S. generic drug prices remained globally competitive and offered Americans their best bet on many popular medications available generically at U.S. pharmacies, such as Walmart’s $4 discount programs, and usage of prescription drug discount cards. And because many popular drugs, such as Lipitor and Plavix, are now sold generically in the U.S., we can expect a shift from international to domestic pharmacies in 2013.
Rogue Online Pharmacies vs. High Drug Prices: Which is More Dangerous?
Rogue online pharmacies are a serious public health threat and need to be put out of business, but the draconian public health consequences of Americans going without needed medication due to cost is a much bigger problem. While one death is too many, very few Americans have died from rogue online pharmacies, domestic or foreign. In dire contrast, as mentioned above, it’s estimated that over one million Americans die each year from not taking needed medication with U.S. drug costs identified as the main culprit behind Americans going without prescribed medication. It’s worth noting that the research showing this sobering data was funded in part by pharmaceutical companies, including PhRMA and Pfizer (Read the research by the New England Health Institute. Follow this hyperlink to the full report; the sponsors are made clear).
The Media Storm of Misinformation on Online Pharmacies
It’s not a freakish editorial accident that the media appears far more interested in reporting about the evils of online pharmacies, especially foreign ones, and their dangers, than the national disgrace of high drug prices causing bankruptcy, sickness, hospitalization and death. The amazing profits of the global pharmaceutical industry are overwhelmingly dependent on charging U.S. consumers the world’s highest prescription drug prices. Preventing Americans from access to lower international drug prices is obviously one of their major goals. The power of the pharmaceutical and the U.S. pharmacy industries, exercised through billions of dollars spent on advertising, lobbying, and media relations, has led to the mainstream media propagating a false narrative about an online marketplace in which it’s not safe to buy lower priced medication from non-U.S. online pharmacies under any circumstances. We’ve written about most of the groups responsible for perpetuating the false narrative:
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies
Center For Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP)
LegitScript.com
National Association of Board of Pharmacy
Partnership For Safe Medicines
With the exception of CSIP, each of the groups above receives funding or revenue from the pharmaceutical industry, U.S. pharmacy industry, and/or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They all conflate the evils of dangerous rogue online pharmacies with the safe practice of personal drug importation from safe online pharmacies, mostly based in Canada. While FDA’s policies continue to allow Americans to personally import prescription medication, the FDA now engages fully in promoting the industry-sponsored media script. CSIP is largely the brain child of the White House Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, an office dedicated to protecting intellectual property rights and strenuously lobbied and influenced by the pharmaceutical industry.
The Truth About Online Pharmacies
There are many international online pharmacies, mostly based in Canada, that have operated safely and ethically for over a decade. Independent research demonstrates that there are clearly safe online pharmacies, international and domestic, including those approved by PharmacyChecker.com. Safe international online pharmacies meet the same or similar standards as U.S. mail-order pharmacies. Their main difference is that they sell medication at a much lower price than U.S. pharmacies. They are not rogue online pharmacies. It’s that simple.
The dangers of rogue online pharmacies are very serious. Such rogues purport to be real and safe pharmacies when often they are not selling from licensed sources, requiring prescriptions or following other basic pharmacy safety protocols. Some online pharmacies are even operated by organized crime groups. And some sell deadly products.
Online Pharmacies in 2013
In 2012, law enforcement successfully shutdown more dangerous rogue sites. We should all applaud and encourage further efforts to crackdown on rogue online pharmacies. But we should also expose misinformation being spread by the pharmaceutical industry about safe international online pharmacies. Their misinformation directly leads to Americans going without medication because people are scared away from online pharmacies that sell the medications they need at a price they can afford.
To help protect the ability of Americans to safely import affordable prescription medication, we encourage you to become part of the RxRights.org movement. Join RxRights.org and contact your elected officials now to let them know Americans need access to safe medication that is affordable, including through personal drug importation.
American consumers should be able and encouraged to purchase safe medication at the lowest possible prices, whether domestically or internationally. Federal and state laws that decrease access to safe and affordable medication are neither ethical nor conducive to protecting the public health. Comparing drug prices among licensed and safe pharmacies and making this information available online for consumers helps maximize access while greatly minimizing risks: PharmacyChecker.com will proudly as ever continue to do so in 2013.
Happy Holidays and New Year!
Gabriel Levitt
Vice President
PharmacyChecker.com
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 20, 2012 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies, Personal Drug Importation
The City of Portland, Maine, is up in arms because the Maine Attorney General recently shutdown that city’s personal drug importation program, Portlandmeds, as reported by the Press Herald. Portlandmeds has saved the city $3.2 million over the past eight years, and is a clear example of a municipal drug importation program that has worked extremely well.
Public response has been critical of the ban. A Press Herald survey asked “Should Maine allow residents to purchased prescription drugs from Canada?” The response: 715 out of 769 – 93% – voted yes.
Portland City Mayor Michael Brennan and other city officials expressed their grievances to 9 of 10 of Portland’s State lawmakers, asking them to back a bill allowing Maine residents to import medication from Canada as well as other countries. Mayor Brennan communicated that Maine’s governor, Paul LePage also supports the resumption of the drug importation program.
Opponents of personal drug importation are almost always funded by corporate interests seeking to protect their profits. The opposition in Maine is no exception. The Retail Association of Maine, which includes on its executive board employees of huge pharmacy chains Walgreens and Walmart, vehemently opposes Portlandmeds. As reported in the Press Herald, that association’s executive director’s communicated: “CanaRx is not licensed to do business in Maine…That makes it difficult to know exactly where the drugs are coming from, and possibly puts patients at risk.” CanaRx – the Canadian pharmacy dispensing medication for the Portlandmeds program, is duly licensed in Canada where the medication is just as safe as the medication sold in the United States. We don’t know of a single adverse health effect after eight years of the successful Portlandmeds program.
We know how much money personal drug importation can save Americans – safely – and wish the City of Portland luck in resuming its program.
Tagged with: Drug Importation, Maine, Municipal Drug Importation, PortlandMeds
by PharmacyChecker.com | Dec 5, 2012 | Online Pharmacy Verification Services, Personal Drug Importation
Taking note that generic Oxycontin (oxycodone) is soon to be legally available for sale in Canada (See the Vancouver Sun); we remind Americans that reputable Canadian-based online pharmacies do not sell Oxycontin or other controlled prescription drugs to Americans. Oxycontin is a highly addictive narcotic, designated as a schedule II controlled pain medication in the U.S. When taken appropriately under a doctor’s supervision, Oxycontin can be very effective in the treatment of moderate to severe pain. Unfortunately, Oxycontin and other pain medications can easily be abused. Painkillers are responsible for 15,000 deaths annually, more than are attributed to heroin use and all other illegal drugs combined, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy alerted U.S. border agents to be on the lookout for imports of generic Oxycontin. Under the Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act only appropriately licensed U.S. online pharmacies can dispense schedule II controlled drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s drug importation policy prioritizes the agency’s enforcement actions against illegal wholesale importers, but has generally permitted individual Americans to import small orders of non-controlled prescription drugs. Unlike regular prescription medication, the sale of controlled drugs, such as Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, and Ambien, are regulated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency not the FDA and subject to much stricter enforcement. PharmacyChecker.com evaluates and monitors non-U.S. online pharmacies in our program to make sure they do not sell controlled medications to Americans. See our Controlled Substances Policy.
Tagged with: controlled substances, Oxycontin, Reputable Online Pharmacies
by PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 5, 2012 | Advocacy, Personal Drug Importation
Congratulations to President Obama on his re-election. We hope his next administration will heed the stories Americans are telling about their struggles to afford prescription medication. On that note, we loudly applaud our friends at RxRights.org for continuing to fight for Americans who are struggling to afford needed medication. A new webpage from RxRights.org brings testimonials from hundreds of Americans across the country into one place. Their stories remind us why access by Americans to safe, foreign online pharmacies is a matter of protecting the public health, and that blocking access will only endanger it.
Below are two excerpts from the new RxRights.org testimonial page:
“Current purchases of medicine from licensed online Canadian pharmacies are saving my wife and me at least $1000 per month and mean the difference between us living or dying. Without these meds, we would both be dead by now…” — Florida.
“My husband has COPD and in three months with Part D he is in the donut hole. Thank God for our Canadian pharmacy, they have helped to keep him alive for many years” — New York
SOURCE: http://www.rxrights.org/testimonials
Tagged with: Canadian Pharmacy, Drug Importation, RxRights.org
by PharmacyChecker.com | Aug 8, 2012 | Drug Importation, Drug Prices, Personal Drug Importation
I had a conversation with Gabriel Levitt from PharmacyChecker.com the other day, as I was in search of a Canadian Pharmacy that I could travel to and obtain affordable, needed, drugs. The reason for this “travel” was the recognition of the newest law (the new FDA bill) on the books in the U.S. that any drug under the value of $2,500.00 would (or could) be seized and destroyed by border security agents.
My particular situation is this: I am on blood thinner (anti-coagulate) medicine. I must continue on this medicine for the remainder of my life. A few years ago I had open heart surgery to repair a defective Mitral valve inside my heart. I elected to have an artificial valve installed instead of a “bio” valve (Porcine or bovine). After weighing the options it was pointed out to me that “bio” replacements would not last as long as artificial valves have proved to be. If any of you have had open heart surgery in the past you will share my desire to not do that again. Very painful recovery and many weeks of gaining strength back.
This brings up the only downside of the artificial, compared to “bio”, replacement. My blood has to be thinned and monitored to prevent clots from forming around the replacement valve. This requires the drug Coumadin to be taken daily. All is fine so far.
Here’s the real kick – If I have to have any procedures that might involve bleeding, be it surgery or even as insignificant as tooth extraction, I must wean myself off Coumadin and bridge this time period with one of the heparin derivative drugs. One of the least expensive of these is Lovenox.
The cost of this drug in the US is approximately $1,200.00 per box of ten Syringes. I must self-administer twice a day so this is only a five day supply. My experience with this medicine is that I must refill and administer more before my Coumadin goes takes effect. Ok, so that is another $1,200.00 out of pocket. Even when I was on Medicare part D my out of pocket was still about $420.00 per purchase.
I was in contact with one of the pharmacies in Canada that your organization verifies. The cost at the Canadian pharmacy was about $140.00 per box of ten syringes. Same manufacturer, same dosage, and same freshness.
I ask you, what is the $1,060.00 extra for? I know that the Canadian pharmacies are not selling me this drug at their cost, so they are making a profit, but why the huge difference?
It makes me think that the drug companies here, in the states, are being allowed to make OBSCENE profits by a significant number of members of congress. What else would explain the very large difference in pricing?
This brings us back to the enactment, with lightning speed, this new law provides for the destruction of mail order drugs from “over the border “pharmacies. The law makers established a price of $2,500.00 as a criteria to destroy (or not) these drugs. Interesting!
Well, that is my story. I know I am not the only US citizen that is being held hostage by those that have a vested interest in keeping US drug prices at an apparent, artificial, level. I think the word extortion is repugnant but does it apply is this discussion? Unfortunately, I think so.
To Mr. Gabriel Levitt and the good folks at Pharmacy Checker please feel free to use this letter in any effort to help bring down the cost of drugs in this country. In the short run, to rescind any attempt by lawmakers to prevent my obtaining affordable drugs from Canadian Pharmacies.
Thank you for reading my story. I am not alone.
Mike M
Syracuse, NY
Tagged with: international pharmacies, Open Letter, True Stories
