This article summarizes good things and bad that are happening online with drug prices and savings, economics, legislation, politics, and even ethics that relate to access by Americans to more affordable medication offered by safe international online pharmacies. If you’re a consumer – especially an American consumer facing high drug costs – you should read this. When you’re done (or even right now!) we recommend joining RxRights to help play a role in making medication more affordable for all Americans.
Next year, we’re planning to focus more attention on local Americans pharmacies: what they’re doing right, wrong, and in between, and how you can save and take advantage of their in-store opportunities to improve your health! But for now, the international online pharmacy report…
The Good
The money Americans could save on brand name drugs by shopping at safe international online pharmacies continued to increase in 2013. In2011 , we reported potential savings of 80%, then a mind-boggling 85% in 2012, and now 87.6% in 2013! Savings have proliferated because America’s trading partners, such as Australia, Canada, the states of the European Union, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, generally, have kept brand drug prices stable, whereas in America they increased by an estimated 13% last year.
The pricing data referred to above is from our prescription drug price savings research released this past September. In that report we looked at popular prescription drugs that are not always covered by health insurance plans, including new plans offered as a result of Obamacare. An extreme example of savings is on the drug Abilify 10 mg, a medication prescribed for depression; $9,007.08 could be saved annually by purchasing the drug from the lowest-cost online pharmacy verified by PharmacyChecker.com compared with a retail pharmacy in New York City. A more common example of potential annual savings from international pharmacies is the $3,935.28 savings on Spiriva Handihaler 18 mcg. Drug prices are out of control in the U.S., especially for those with no domestic generic alternative, and access to international online pharmacies is as urgent as ever.
It would, of course, be better if Americans could find more reasonable prices on brand name drugs at their local pharmacies.
Our vice president, Gabriel Levitt, submitted comments to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to emphasize that the Obama administration’s online pharmacy strategy curtails access by Americans to safe online pharmacies in its otherwise important efforts to combat “rogue” online pharmacies. Its Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) seeks to encourage companies, such as search engines, domain registrars, and credit card companies to prohibit services to dangerous web pharmacies. This may sound good, but all is not what it seems.
IPEC’s efforts led to the creation of the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies (CSIP), which in our opinion, is essentially a group of very important companies working together to fulfill the wishes of the pharmaceutical industry as they relate to online pharmacies. Founded partly by Google, CSIP is allied with big pharmaceutical and U.S. pharmacy interests, such as Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies, LegitScript, the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and the Partnership for Safe Medicines. All of these organizations are either fully or partially funded by drug companies or U.S. chain pharmacies, or are paid by the FDA, and help discourage safe personal drug importation while cracking down on real rogue sites. We abhor the former but support the latter. They label safe international online pharmacies as “rogue” or “illegitimate” – scaring people away from affordable medication online. We hope our advice to the U.S. government will help prevent further exacerbation of the problem of Americans skipping prescribed medication due to high drug prices in America.
We applaud RxRights.org for its critical advocacy efforts on behalf of Americans who are struggling to afford prescription medication, including recent actions to defend the truth about safe international online pharmacies and savings. One new blog post features three video testimonials from Americans who import their medication, and another explains the facts about international online pharmacies. Check out Gary’s story:
First, Gary and the other Americans who offered testimonials should be commended for having the courage to speak up about ordering medication from international online pharmacies and discussing their drug affordability problems.
Gary orders his diabetes medication from Canada so he doesn’t have to forgo other needed household goods. He has been buying medication from Canada for many years and has “never had the first bit of problems.” But the drug companies – and even the FDA – will lead you to believe that this is dangerous! So why is Gary so comfortable using international online pharmacies?
Well, the other blog post gives us the answer: The only real difference between medications sent by mail from a licensed international pharmacy and what you can find in a neighborhood pharmacy is the cost. In fact, you can save between 50 and 80 percent by ordering online internationally and receive the same exact medicine!
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A source for news and analysis about drug prices and safety, online pharmacies and personal drug importation, published on behalf of American consumers.
