by PharmacyChecker.com | Jul 10, 2013 | Advocacy, Online Pharmacies
Our friends at RxRights have launched a petition to oppose the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy’s (NABP) bid to control .pharmacy (dot pharmacy) – a new Internet domain that should be open to all reputable and safe online pharmacies, not just the ones that drug companies want you to use. Unfortunately, NABP has a history of discouraging Americans from using safe and affordable online pharmacies based in other countries and also taking money from drug companies to operate Internet pharmacy programs. For millions of Americans access to safe international online pharmacies is the only way to afford necessary medication. The bottom line is that NABP wants to block safe international online pharmacy from obtaining a website ending in .pharmacy, which is anti-competitive and anti-consumer. Don’t let them do it!!
Read why an NABP-controlled “.pharmacy” would harm millions of Americans.
Sign the RxRights petition here.
Tagged with: ICANN, RxRights
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jul 3, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Importation, FDA, Online Pharmacies
For those of us looking online for safe and affordable medication, it’s very disconcerting to hear about the problem of fake Canadian online pharmacies, or any fake online pharmacy, and the myriad ways they can endanger your health, such as by sending counterfeit or substandard medication or engaging in identity theft. We can help you avoid the bad guys.
Just last week the FDA reported that – through Operation Pangea VI – thousands of illegal online pharmacies, including fake Canadian ones, were shutdown to protect Americans from dangerous medication. The FDA should be applauded for shutting down dangerous sites. However, even though there are real Canadian and other international online pharmacies that are safe and have very low drug prices, the FDA continues to warn Americans not to use them through its BeSafeRx program. We believe this confuses Americans about what they need to do to obtain prescribed and affordable medication safely online.
A fake Canadian online pharmacy is essentially a website dressed up with the Canadian flag, maple leafs, with red and white colors, or other graphics of Canada, but without actual ties to Canada. In fact, a majority of so called “Canadian” online pharmacies are based overseas, many in Russia and Eastern Europe. Some of them are even known to have ties to organized crime. Simply put, they are not Canadian pharmacies. Like all rogue online pharmacies, fake Canadian online pharmacies often:
- Don’t require prescriptions;
- Don’t publish verifiable and useful contact information;
- Don’t fill orders through licensed pharmacies;
- Don’t sell real or safe medications;
- Don’t have licensed pharmacist dispensing your prescription order; and
- Don’t protect your personal and financial information.
A real Canadian online pharmacy offers the following:
- Regulated medications that are approved by a respected national drug regulatory authority;
- Prescription fulfillment through licensed pharmacies, dispensed by licensed pharmacists;
- Requirement of your valid prescription, issued by your doctor – NOT through an online questionnaire;
- Verifiable contact information, including telephone number and mailing address;
- Online pharmacy operation by or affiliated with a licensed Canadian pharmacy; and
- The ability for consumers to speak with a licensed pharmacist for counseling;.
You can find real Canadian online pharmacies on PharmacyChecker.com. We have verified that they meet critical safety criteria.
There are a small number of real Canadian online pharmacies that no longer work with a Canadian bricks and mortar pharmacy because they have transferred prescription fulfillment to licensed pharmacies in other countries. They retain the Canadian moniker or have the word “Canada” in their web addresses to keep their original branding and website. That doesn’t mean they are not safe. However, they ought to be transparent and disclose that medications ordered come from pharmacies outside of Canada.
This brings up an important side note: where are your medications really coming from and who is making them? When you buy a prescription medication at your local U.S. pharmacy that does not mean it was made in the United States. Almost half of all prescription drugs sold in U.S. pharmacies are imported. Furthermore, U.S. pharmacies do not inform you who made the active ingredients (the main ingredient that treats you) – in the medication you are taking. Most active pharmaceutical ingredients – 80% according to the FDA – found in U.S. pharmacy prescription drugs are made outside the U.S., mostly in India and China. If you buy a prescription drug from Canada and most other countries the same holds true. Don’t despair, the U.S. and many other countries have strong safety protocols to protect their prescription drug supplies: those same supplies usually just cost much more in the United States.
Here’s a chart to show you the difference between real and fake Canadian online pharmacies. As you’ll see it’s like day and night:
|
Real Canadian Online Pharmacies |
Fake Canadian Online Pharmacies |
| Sells only regulated medication? |
YES |
NO |
| Prescription fulfilled through licensed pharmacies and by licensed pharmacists? |
YES |
NO |
| Requires your valid prescription? |
YES |
NO |
| Provides verifiable contact information? |
YES |
NO |
| Protects your privacy? |
YES |
NO |
| Does not send you spam? |
YES |
NO |
| Is owned by or works with a Canadian pharmacy? |
YES |
NO |
Tagged with: Canadian Pharmacy, fake online pharmacy
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Jun 27, 2013 | Drug Importation, Personal Drug Importation, Politics
PharmacyChecker.com posted the following press release today. Click here to read it on PharmacyChecker.com
Maine Becomes First State to Legalize Prescription Drug Importation
— PharmacyChecker.com Applauds Historic Law and Helps Consumers to Shop Safely for Medication —
White Plains, New York – Thursday, June 27, 2013 – Today, Maine became the first state to legalize the importation of prescription drugs by individuals, allowing its residents to reduce the cost of obtaining expensive prescription medications by as much as 90%.
“Americans have accessed medication internationally for over the past decade but federal prohibitions on personal drug importation, while not enforced against individuals, have deterred millions. With that regulatory weight lifted in Maine and with proper guidance, more Americans will have access to safe and affordable medication,” said Gabriel Levitt, vice president of PharmacyChecker.com, a consumer website which evaluates the credentials of online pharmacies and provides drug price comparisons.
The Maine legislature overwhelmingly voted in favor of the law, which permits its residents to personally import prescription medication from licensed pharmacies in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Maine’s House voted 107-37 in favor of the bill, with seven members absent; the Senate voted 30-4, with one member excused. The bill became law at midnight last night in the absence of a veto or signature by Governor Paul LePage. The bill, LD 171, “An Act To Facilitate the Personal Importation of Prescription Drugs from International Mail Order Prescription Pharmacies,” passed as amendment S-241.
Although several states adopted state-run drug importation programs almost a decade ago, most fell by the wayside because state governments did not widely market the programs. The State of the Kansas, under then Governor Kathleen Sebelius, provided a state web page helping residents access verified international pharmacies online. Ms. Sebelius is now Secretary of Health and Human Services. Maine, however, becomes the first state to formally legalize direct personal drug importation.
Research from the Commonwealth Fund has shown that 50 million Americans are not getting needed medication due to the high price of medications at U.S. pharmacies. “The State of Maine has resoundingly declared that this state of affairs is unacceptable,” added Mr. Levitt.
Founded by Tod Cooperman, M.D. in 2003, PharmacyChecker.com helps consumers safely save money on medication by identifying the lowest drug prices from reputable online pharmacies. It independently checks the credentials of online pharmacies and pharmacy discount cards providing easy comparisons of drug prices. PharmacyChecker.com, based in New York, is privately held with no ownership in or from companies that sell or distribute pharmacy products.
Tagged with: HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, Maine
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Jun 21, 2013 | Advocacy, Healthcare Reform, Politics
Maine residents may soon have easier access to lower cost prescription drugs from international online pharmacies, if Governor Paul LePage signs a bill recently passed by the Maine Legislature. The bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support – 107 yeas to 37 nays and seven abstentions in the House, and 30 yeas to four nays, with one excused in the Senate. The new law would make it expressly legal, not just “permitted,” to import medication for personal use. The bill was written partly as a response to the Maine Attorney General shutting down importation programs last September that were clearly safe and helping cut prescription costs. The bill’s passage would allow those programs to operate.
PharmacyChecker.com vice president Gabriel Levitt weighed in on Maine Public Broadcasting Network yesterday, defending consumers by explaining that millions of Americans who can’t afford medication are wrongly dissuaded from ordering it online: “The problem is certain groups, often funded by the pharmaceutical industry, are telling Americans that there’s no way to get medications safely online, and it is just not true.”
Listen to the broadcast and read the accompanying article here.
Tagged with: Maine, NPR
by Gabriel Levitt, President, PharmacyChecker.com and Prescription Justice | Jun 19, 2013 | Healthcare Reform, Pharmaceutical Industry, Politics
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of consumers over drug companies by ruling that pay-to-delay tactics by pharmaceutical companies could violate antitrust laws. This could mean speedier access to low-cost generic drugs, greater prescription adherence among cash-strapped Americans, and lower healthcare payments for taxpayers.
In this landmark case, Federal Trade Commission vs. Actavis, the Court decided 5-3 that generic drug company Actavis may have violated federal anti-trust laws in accepting payment from a brand name drug company, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, to delay manufacturing a generic version of AndroGel. An important caveat of the decision is that patent settlements between drug companies are not unlawful by definition but that the law is flexible enough on a case by case basis to conclude that pay-to-delay is anti-competitive, and under some circumstances illegal.
The FTC has estimated that Americans spend an extra $3.5 billion each year because of pay-to-delay practices. If drug companies are deterred from attempting pay-to-delay agreements then more generics will be found on U.S. pharmacy shelves faster. FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez summed up the decision: “The Supreme Court’s decision is a significant victory for American consumers, American taxpayers and free markets.”
Tagged with: pay for delay, Solvay, Supreme Court
by Gabriel Levitt, Vice President, PharmacyChecker.com and Sam Werbalowsky, Pharmacychecker.com | Jun 11, 2013 | Advocacy, Drug Prices, Medication non-adherence
The latest edition of NPR’s ongoing series, The View From Black America, focuses on Americans who live within fear of financial disaster due to high drug costs. In fact, one in four African-Americans struggle to afford medication, according to a national poll conducted by NPR, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Mike Jackson is one of the millions of Americans whose response to high drug prices was to scale back his medication (in his case, insulin). Mr. Jackson stated, “Instead of taking 60 units twice a day, I was taking 30 units twice a day….The idea behind that was if I watched what I would eat and then stay with the 30 units — I would keep my blood sugar down enough that hopefully it would not be much of a problem.” His medication cost almost $500 per month.
Mr. Jackson ended up with numbness in his foot and toes, and nerve damage in his eyes, sure signs that his diabetes had gone out of control. A trip to the ophthalmologist only added to his medical bills.
Ashley Liggins had to choose whether to purchase food, gas, or medication to control her blood pressure. When the choice comes between medicine and other essentials, like food for your family, sometimes expensive medicine may be the first to go. And this this was the decision made by Ms. Liggins, leading her to reduce doses and borrow pills from her mother.
We will continue to document cases of Americans getting sicker due to high drug prices. To take action on bringing down drug prices consider joining RxRights.org.
To listen to the NPR segment, click here.
Tagged with: diabetes, NPR, RxRights
