by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 13, 2017 | Healthcare
The hearings on Capitol Hill about drug prices were a big deal this week. To policy wonks. All the rage was the report by the National Academies of Sciences about policies to lower drug prices. There was lot of intriguing discussion, debate, and deliberation on things we should do. Many that I agree with! Blah, blah, blah, blah. Medicare should negotiate drug prices! We should make generics available quicker! We should clamp down on patent abuse by big pharma! More price transparency! Stop direct-to-consumer advertising! Blah, blah, blah…blah. All of this was a big deal. To policy wonks.
What about people today?!??!
Now I like talking policy – too much sometimes. But I’m not writing about that hearing. No way. I came across a little piece in the New York Times, which loudly reminded me of this fact: While Congress debates, activists act, and policy nuts pontificate on drug prices –foreign pharmacies are the solution that saves American lives NOW. This is indisputable.
Access to more affordable drugs keeps Americans out of the hospital, able to lead more productive lives – and living. That’s what the most conclusive research proves.
For that reason: There’s no doubt in my mind that properly verified Canadian and other foreign online pharmacies are a boon to public health because they are far cheaper than U.S. pharmacies. Just to be clear: It’s not just that they help Americans save hundreds of millions of dollars a year – maybe billions (wish I knew). They are saving lives. (more…)
Tagged with: National Academy of Sciences
by Lucia Mueller, President, PharmacyChecker.com | Dec 8, 2017 | Drug Prices
AARP just released its Rx Price Watch Report and the data doesn’t do your wallet any favors. Thankfully, verified international online pharmacies offer the price relief consumers need but can’t find locally. AARP has recommended that consumers consult PharmacyChecker.com to avoid rogue online pharmacy scams.
The AARP report painted quite a grim picture concerning the lack of drug price relief in the U.S.:
(more…)
Tagged with: AARP, huff post, Leigh purvis, Novolog, older americans, Rx Price Watch Report, Tod Cooperman, Viagra, Xarelto
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 7, 2017 | Drug Importation
For years, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) has opposed new drug importation proposals that would improve access to more affordable medication from Canada and other countries. Led by its executive director, Carmen Catizone, PharmD, the NABP’s efforts pertaining to drug importation have focused mostly on opposing online access to imported medications – meaning Americans getting cheaper meds from Canada and other countries. This is not surprising. NABP has received a lot of money from pharmaceutical companies for these efforts. Also, NABP represents U.S. pharmacy boards and the members of those boards often have financial interests in U.S. pharmacies. But here’s a surprise…
Earlier this week, an article in the Washington Post focused on various prescription drug importation programs offered by cities, counties and schools to lower pharmaceutical bills for retirees and municipalities. According to the article, the FDA may view these programs as illegal. The FDA recently raided some pharmacy storefronts in Florida but did not shut them down. Operating for 10, some even 15 years, those programs help Americans—especially the elderly— order affordable medications from other countries.
Mr. Catizone had the last word in the article. (more…)
Tagged with: Carmen Catizone, drug importation program, Flagler, Kokomo, NABP, Schenectady
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Dec 1, 2017 | Levitt Op-Eds
Alex Azar and Eli Lilly have opposed policies that would make healthcare more affordable for Americans. Photo: Michael Reynolds/EPA
As I wrote a few weeks back on these blog pages, President Trump’s nomination of Alex Azar to lead the Department of Health and Human Services will help Big Pharma continue to get away with murder; something the president says he opposes. Mr. Azar just left Eli Lilly USA earlier this year as its president. Under his tenure with Lilly, Azar vehemently opposed importing lower-cost medications from Canada among other polices to tackle high drug prices.
In my capacity as founder of Prescription Justice, I published an op-ed in The Guardian called “Alex Azar is big pharma personified. He must not become US health secretary.” A Big Pharma executive is not the right pick to get this country moving on lowering drug prices. I’m just saying…
Tagged with: Alex Azar, Big Pharma, Drug Importation, Eli Lilly, HHS
by Lucia Mueller, President, PharmacyChecker.com | Nov 30, 2017 | Drug Safety
The verdict is in: blister packs may be a safer bet for packaging your medication. In the U.S. and sometimes in Canada, however, medications are dispensed as loose pills.
According to the FDA, over 1.3 million people are injured each year due to medication mistakes, which include dispensing errors in U.S. hospitals and pharmacies. As discussed in a blogpost by Roger Bate, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, it may be safer to receive your medications in blister packs, whether dispensed locally or from an international pharmacy by mail, and the FDA seems to agree.
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Tagged with: Blister Packs, FDA, Roger Bate
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Nov 22, 2017 | Thanksgiving
Happy Prescription Savings and Affordability
In America, the richest country in the world, 33% of people can’t afford food, shelter, or medical care…and that includes medicine, as reported in a Market Watch article covering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s national survey. That’s a disgrace.
We know, and remind you almost every week, that tens of million of people aren’t filling prescriptions because of cost each year. Many of them, including the elderly, can’t because food must come first.
It’s my strongest hope that our work at PharmacyChecker helps Americans get the medication prescribed to them, but at a price that also allows them to sit down to a turkey dinner in a peaceful home to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tagged with: food, hunger
The hearings on Capitol Hill about drug prices were a big deal this week. To policy wonks. All the rage was the report by the National Academies of Sciences about policies to lower drug prices. There was lot of intriguing discussion, debate, and deliberation on things we should do. Many that I agree with! Blah, blah, blah, blah. Medicare should negotiate drug prices! We should make generics available quicker! We should clamp down on patent abuse by big pharma! More price transparency! Stop direct-to-consumer advertising! Blah, blah, blah…blah. All of this was a big deal. To policy wonks.
