by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Aug 20, 2020 | Prescription Savings
I just love this! A new post on the Ask PharmacyChecker resource section is called “How to Get a 99% Off Your Prescription (without ordering from Canada).” Taking a break from the politics and policy I find myself writing about on these blog pages, I want to brag about PharmacyChecker’s domestic savings. More than ever, if an American compares drug prices on PharmacyChecker.com, they will learn that most generic drugs are far cheaper domestically than in Canada – or, in some cases, even India. The PharmacyChecker Discount Card helps people in the U.S. afford medication at their local pharmacy.
Many of you know that prices on the same brand name drugs sold outside the U.S. are often 90% lower. The only thing crazier than those price discrepancies are the generic drug price discrepancies within America, in the same state, town, even on the same street! [Keep in mind, we’re talking about cash-paying customers: People without health insurance or those with health insurance who can pay less out-of-pocket.]
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by Lucia Mueller, President, PharmacyChecker.com | Sep 14, 2018 | Prescription Savings
PharmacyChecker president and co-founder, Gabriel Levitt, spoke at the New York Retirees Association of District Council 37 September 2018 meeting about the prescription drug price crisis in America. Retirees learned about the politics and policy of high drug prices and how to fight back against Big Pharma. He also covered how older Americans can get help when they can’t afford medications.
As drug prices at local U.S. pharmacies, especially for generics, vary greatly, the first recommendation is to make sure you’re getting the lowest prices locally. There are discount cards, patient assistance programs, drug company co-pay coupons, state programs, and extra help from the federal government for low-income Medicare enrollees.
There is also the lifeline of personal drug importation from safe international online pharmacies, of which older Americans should take advantage when they can’t afford a medication here in the U.S. Gabe explained that it’s technically prohibited under federal law, although no one is prosecuted for doing so.
With around 200-300 members in attendance, the members didn’t hold back in expressing shock at the numbers surrounding the current state of drug prices in the United States vs. the rest of the world. Commonly prescribed drugs that many uninsured or under-insured Americans can’t afford are sold for much less in Canada and other countries. According to Kaiser Health News, eighty percent of Americans believe the prices of prescription medications are unreasonable.
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Tagged with: DC37, NYC, Retirees
by PharmacyChecker.com | Jan 30, 2018 | Prescription Savings
If you have been watching the news, you’ve likely heard the current administration’s support for affordable healthcare, lower prescription drugs costs, and less red tape around the FDA’s drug approval process. These platform statements are powerful to a country where prescription drug costs are significant. In fact, according to an AARP report from 2015, the price of prescriptions per household amount to more than the average family’s income per year. To many eager constituents, these campaign promises create the illusion of a future of financial stability and an adequate, cost-effective healthcare system that treats people as patients instead of dollar signs. Before we pop the champagne, we need to look at both the current system we are proposing to fix and the actions that the government has already taken against these its original statements.
The Trump administration points the finger at the FDA’s current drug approval process as a major cause for high drug prices. Critics of the existing approval process believe it to be slow, full of unnecessary procedures, and a hindrance to the approval of potentially life-saving drugs. Notice, I said potentially. (more…)
Tagged with: Bernie Sanders, Consumer Safety, Donald Trump, healthcare, Palladone
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jan 4, 2018 | Prescription Savings
Why does Gleostine (lomustine), above, cost 1400% more than…
Lomustine is a medication that treats cancer, which was discovered in 1976. Recently, a drug company bought the rights to market the 100 mg version of Lomustine in the U.S. and increased its price by 1400%. As a result, Americans with brain tumors are now struggling to afford this off-patent drug or simply going without it altogether. They don’t have to because Lomustine is available in Canada. There, Lomustine is marketed under the name “CeeNU” at a 97% discount.
Here are some price comparisons for CeeNU 100mg.
Until 2013, CeeNU was sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Co. and even available at U.S. pharmacies for about $50/pill. Now, made by a company called Corden Pharma Latina SPA, the drug is sold in the United States under the name Gleostine, which is the new – and only – FDA-approved version. Gleostine is distributed by a “start-up” drug company called Next Source Biotechnology LLC, for $768/pill. Yes, this sounds like what Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals did back in 2015 with Daraprim when he jacked the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill.
CeeNU 100 mg, made by Bristol Myers Squibb, can be purchased online from Canada for about $25/pill from PharmacyChecker-verified pharmacies. You can compare prices for all strengths of CeeNU. (more…)
Tagged with: cancer, ceenu, gleostine, lomustine, Next Source Biotechnology
