by PharmacyChecker.com | May 27, 2016 | PharmacyChecker Answers
Question: My doctor in Florida insists that all prescriptions be sent electronically to the pharmacy. I prefer to have a paper prescription in order to shop around for the best price. What can I do?
Answer: While most states have provisions allowing electronic prescribing, and some have extremely strict requirements mandating their use, all have exceptions that allow consumer choice. PharmacyChecker.com CEO Tod Cooperman, MD, wrote about this issue in an earlier blog post as it relates to electronic prescribing in the State of New York. But what about Florida?
Here’s the good news! Florida law states “electronic prescribing shall not interfere with a patient’s freedom to choose a pharmacy.”
The main reason that states have adopted rules to encourage electronic prescribing is to prevent the abuse of prescription narcotics, which is a national epidemic.
(more…)
Tagged with: consumer choice, e-prescribing, Florida, legal
by PharmacyChecker.com | May 26, 2016 | Rogue Sites
We discovered today that someone has maliciously published a website at the web address pharmacychecker.co.uk that mimics the exact look of pharmacychecker.com. Please be aware that this website is in no way associated with PharmacyChecker.com, LLC and has misappropriated our content. We are taking the necessary actions to have this website taken down as fast as possible.
UPDATED 5/27/2016: The domain registrar took swift action to take down the rogue website.
For price comparisons and online pharmacy verifications, please make sure you only visit PharmacyChecker.com.
Tagged with: rogue sites
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 20, 2016 | Online Pharmacies
PharmacyChecker.com has been mentioned and recommended in many articles and news stories over the years, but it’s really gratifying when a medical professional/writer recommends us, even if they recommend the other guy first! Here’s why.
In an article published in VeryWell.com, called “How to Find an Online Pharmacy You Can Trust,” Michael Bihari, MD, writes: “Several organizations, including the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) and PharmacyChecker, evaluate online drugstores for the quality of the services they provide. Both organizations reject the majority of Internet pharmacies.” [Emphasis added]. Indeed, according to sources cited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are about 35,000 Internet pharmacies. The PharmacyChecker.com Verification Program has 75 and the NABP’s program has 64 approved pharmacy websites. (more…)
Tagged with: assurance, NABP, trust, verywell, VIPPS
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 12, 2016 | Drug Prices, FDA, Generic drugs, Local Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies, Saving Money on Prescription Drugs
Brand Name Crestor: Made in Puerto Rico under FDA’s regulations.
Rosuvastatin is now available in U.S. pharmacies as a generic but you can get Crestor 10mg, the brand version, 94% cheaper online. To put some flesh and bones, dollars and sense (pun intended) to this percentile: Ninety pills of generic rosuvastatin cost a whopping $795 at a Walgreens in Brooklyn, NY, but 90 pills of brand name Crestor is $45.65 at a low-cost international online pharmacy, one that is verified by PharmacyChecker.com.
What about using a prescription discount card to buy generic Crestor? Drug price comparison company GoodRx offers a coupon to be used at Rite Aid Pharmacy for a price of $329.52 – still more than seven times the price to get Crestor from an online pharmacy.
Care to know where these drugs are made? It may surprise you. (more…)
Tagged with: Crestor, rosuvastatin
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | May 6, 2016 | Drug Prices
Millions of American consumers are buying medication online from pharmacies outside the U.S. at much lower prices than at home but some are not doing it safely. Since 2003, we at PharmacyChecker.com have been checking the credentials of online pharmacies to help you stay safe, as well as making it easy for you to compare and find the lowest drug prices. For those who may be unfamiliar with how we do this, we’ve created a slideshow.
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The slideshow explains that the main reason many drug prices are lower online is because drugs are often much less expensive outside the United States. It’s that plain and simple. People can save as much as 95% on their medications. And while the U.S. FDA discourages people from getting their medication this way and generally considers it not to be legal, no one has ever been prosecuted for purchasing medication for themselves this way.
Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites selling medication are not verified for safety, don’t require a prescription, and may sell counterfeit, adulterated and expired medication. In contrast, medications ordered from online pharmacies verified by PharmacyChecker.com are dispensed from licensed pharmacies that require valid prescriptions and meet high safety standards.
I hope the slideshow is helpful and encourage you to share it with others.
Tagged with: Drug Prices, international pharmacies, Slideshow
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Apr 29, 2016 | Drug Prices
Executives from Valeant Pharmaceuticals were lambasted about their pernicious business strategy by members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging at a congressional hearing this past Wednesday. I’m glad the hot spotlight continues to shine on the faces of pharmaceutical company executives for runaway drug prices in America, but let’s not go too far differentiating Valeant from many other bigger pharmaceutical companies. While there are important nefarious nuances to Valeant’s practices, their executives were essentially called out for trying to do what all drug company business executives do: make as much money as they possibly can.
Valeant Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson’s contrite response was surreal: “Let me state plainly that it was a mistake to pursue, and in hindsight I regret pursuing, transactions where a central premise was a planned increase in the price of medicines.” I’m sure Mr. Pearson has regrets – even pharma execs feel bad about what they have done – but is the regret really felt for pursuing a business strategy of maximizing drug prices in the U.S. market? As a rational business actor, that’s what his job is as CEO of a publicly-traded company. Isn’t that what all CEO’s of pharmaceutical companies do? Yes, but…
Valeant is viewed as particularly pernicious because its price hikes for critical medications Nitropress, Isuprel, Syprine, and Cupermine, were 310%, 720%, 3,200%, and 6000%, respectively. Even worse these medications are old drugs, not new innovative medications. Those increases make average patented, brand name drug price increases of almost 15% in 2015 look paltry, even when that average exceeded inflation in leaps and bounces, which was under 1%.
(more…)
Tagged with: Aging Committee, phrma, Susan Collins, Valeant
